


Good Girls Don't Do That

by Carathay



Category: Descendants (2015)
Genre: F/M, Movie Spoilers, Unofficial Sequel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-06-12
Packaged: 2018-05-25 08:37:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 68,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6187711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carathay/pseuds/Carathay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ever wonder why Ben decided to bring Mal and the rest over from the Island? And why he had zero problems with dumping Audrey without a thought or didn't mind that he'd been love spelled? For all that Ben is about to be King, he's also a teenage boy and when he sees a pretty girl, he wants to get to know her.  An alternate take on Ben's not so pure reasons for bringing over the VK's fills in some 'missing gaps' in the movie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> (Set before the Descendants movie… / non-canon with the prequel book)

A blinding beam of sunlight cut its way across the floor of Ben's apartment. Technically it was a 'dorm room', but very few dorm rooms had their own swimming pools. However, his suite wasn't actually separate from the rest of the dorms so Ben supposed that the term 'apartment' would have to do. Some of his friends thought it was a stupid rule that he had to live with all of the other lowborn riff raff. That's what all the other princes liked to say. Ben wasn't so sure he really wanted to be separate but he wouldn't get a chance to change things until he was King. That would be in about a month when his dad, 'The Beast' stepped aside to let him take over. Honestly, that part about taking over really didn't make any sense. His dad had been elected King. Elected. Which generally doesn't go with the word 'King' and shouldn't mean that the son automatically inherits, especially at the age of sixteen before he'd even finished school. "So, why exactly do I get to be King when he steps down?" Ben mused. Not that he exactly minded. Ruling the world seemed like it could be a heck of a lot of fun. Power, as they said, had its own rewards.

Power wasn't his problem right now though. That was because he didn't have any. No power. Nada. Zip. Audrey, his girlfriend of over five years somehow had acquired every ounce of it in their relationship and, to a certain degree, in his life. They'd gotten together when they were eleven and it just seemed like the thing to do. He'd been shy and not all that assertive at the time. Audrey had marched right in and said "I'm a princess. You're a prince. Let's be together." It had been… hot. Not that he had a clue what 'hot' meant at age eleven but thinking back, it was definitely the right word. It had been easy to get into a pattern where Audrey called all the shots. But in the last year or so, things had changed. Audrey had lost the fire that had initially attracted him. She still said 'what was what' but now it was more likely to be about who they should be seen with or what kind of outfit he should wear. Those were things that didn't matter to him so he didn't really fight her, but... He missed being with someone who wanted to do big and exciting things that would draw him out of his shell. All Audrey wanted to be was ladylike and perfect.

Audrey's favorite pastime now was sitting around and looking pretty. She wouldn't go swimming with him anymore. It might mess up her hair. Or, oh my goodness, he'd actually see her in her bathing suit. "I've grown up. And good girls don't do that sort of thing before they're married." she'd say to him whenever he brought up the subject. He didn't understand the change. Two years ago it had been hard to get the two of them out of the water. He'd even offered to turn it into a larger pool party or find a chaperone. Someway that she'd feel comfortable with him. But it was no good. No bikini watching for Ben.

When he pushed at her enough, she'd sometimes agree to take a walk with him. But it wasn't a romantic walk alone in the woods where maybe they could sneak in a couple of kisses under the trees. No way, no day. It was a walk in the bright sunshine. And there were always at least three of her friends along for company. It wasn't exactly that he wanted to jump her or something. But, well, they were growing up and it was time to move things up a little. But nothing would get past her 'Good girls don't do that.' line.

As Ben gazed out the window and looked at the dark sea beyond, he'd realized that over the last few years, he'd become more of a carpet than Gaston had wanted to make out of his father. He'd spent more and more time just molding himself to fit what Audrey wanted. "Maybe," he had figured, "if I give in on some things, she'll give in on some too." So he'd compromised time after time and participated in whatever stupid activity she'd come up with so. In fact, they had spent the previous afternoon rehearsing for a 'Be Our Guest' dance for the parent visit in a few weeks. It was embarrassing and absurd. But he'd gone in with a smile on his face. But when he suggested that afterwards they go for a ride together on his bike, she'd turned him down flat.

Since they were officially boyfriend and girlfriend, she did occasionally agree to a formal date. A date that was always with a group and generally ended with a tiny kiss on the cheek when he dropped her off. She even liked saying it. "Here's your little peck on the cheek." And then a brief dry press of her lips and she was done. "What's wrong with a proper good night kiss?" he asked himself. "I guess it's just that good girls don't think about those sorts of things." Ben thought bitterly. It was up a disaster. The passion he'd been dreaming of just wasn't there. "I don't think I want a good girl anymore…" he said to himself.

A huge wave rolled across the stormy ocean and crashed against the Isle of the Lost with a shower of magical sparks. "That's what I want!" Ben realized. "Sparks. Feeling. Romance…" He wanted to be with someone who wanted to be with him. And he wanted it to be in a way that was more than just 'Stand next to.' It wasn't that he had a problem with Audrey saying no. He'd never want to force anyone. But it would be nice to know that deep down below that 'good girl' persona, that she wanted more from him too. But those little pecks on the cheek said that, clear as day, Audrey didn't want him at all. She was only with him because they were supposed to be together. They were the royal couple. She didn't love him or anything. Another crash of the surf made him turn his thoughts outward. "Why can't I find someone wild? Exciting? Powerful! Someone more interested in being herself than in being that perfect good girl?" Ben was now shouting his questions out to the storm. And as another wave tried to engulf the Isle of the Lost, an idea came to him.

A few days ago, the king had suggested that he help watch the security feeds from the Isle of the Lost. It was supposed to be part of taking a greater responsibility for the realm. The Isle was where the free folk had exiled all of the villains when peace had finally been achieved. His dad wanted to make sure that Maleficent, Jafar, and all of the other baddies weren't able to spread destruction and ruin anymore. The island was more than secure so watching them wasn't strictly necessary. But since you still couldn't trust a villain, the magic that sustained it had ways built into it to watch what was going on over there. While the magical barrier had kept them in out of everyone's hair for over 20 years but it was better to be safe than sorry. It had been more of a command than a suggestion from his father to keep an eye out so he'd dutifully watched whenever he had a few free minutes. It didn't take long to realize that there was nothing the villains could do to break out and he'd almost given up on the idea entirely, royal suggestion or not. But the weather had been horrid the last few days and out of boredom, he'd started watching the rest of the island. The people were fascinating. Villains, lackeys, and bullies all mingled in a new society. But given the lack of anyone innocent to prey on, they'd evolved. They had lives and families. Well, they kind of had families. No one seemed to actually love each other so maybe 'family' wasn't the right word. But marriages over there produced the same sort of thing they produced over here.

Children.

Watching those kids quickly turned into an obsession. They ran and fought and screamed and cried. They didn't sit around or take quiet walks. When they were knocked down, they got back up. It was so different than the world that he lived in.

Ben reached over, waved his hand over the magic control ball, and commanded it to show him the Isle again. Soon enough he was watching Mal, the daughter of Maleficent attempting to cast spells. She'd become his favorite thing to watch over the last few days. The stormy day had apparently kept them inside on the Isle as well and her mom decided that a rainy day was perfect for spell practice. "What's the flipping point?" Mal had muttered under her breath. "It's not like any of this stuff will ever work." But after Mal lost yet another fierce battle of wills with her mother, she'd given in and started practicing. Ben considered waving his hand and going to watch some other part of the island when two things caught his attention. First of all, Mal was cute as hell. He wasn't entirely sure why he hadn't realized it before now but, oh my goodness she was. The purple hair was amazing and all that leather… Well, it awakened some feeling in him that he had actually thought that Audrey might have destroyed. And second, the practice required that she come up with this funny little rhymes. "Fall out of the tree and become a Bee" went the first one. But after listening to Mal try a few of those, Maleficent had declared that it was time to give up 'baby spells'. She gave Mal a list of harder words to rhyme and explained that she expected horrid spells by the end of the afternoon if Mal wanted any dinner tonight. She then left Mal alone to work them out.

After Mal spent a good fifteen minutes coming up with spells that involved curse words and rude hand gestures toward her mother, she'd gotten down to business. It was tremendous fun to watch Mal try to come up with ways to rhyme words like 'orange' or 'basket'. She would get stuck halfway through the spell, stand there stock still for a minute, and then give out the cutest little scream of frustration.

It was addictive and Ben soon found himself making up spells along with her. And since he was a guy and sixteen, not all of his rhymes were exactly appropriate. Then fate intervened. A gust of wind tore the list of words she was supposed to use in spells out of Mal's hand and tried to blow them out the window. With a sulfurous curse, she threw herself across the room and tried to catch it. Then the wind grabbed it again and it darted out of a broken window pane. It briefly caught on a nail just barely out of her reach. Mal shoved her arm out the windows and bending over, she reached frantically to try to get the list before the storm finally claimed it. At the sight of her lovely looking backside facing him, one of those naughty rhymes popped into his head. With a bit of a laugh, he repeated it in a booming and commanding voice.

"Take the proud and make them meek. Make her bottom stitches weak."

Just at that moment, Mal stretched a little bit farther out of the window, and the seam in the back of Mal's pants split open just a little bit.

Ben stared, mesmerized, amazed at what had just happened. Then he panicked and tried desperately not to look because that just wasn't right. He wasn't sure if it was a weird coincidence or if his 'spell' had actually split Mal's pants.

He didn't like to think that he was the kind of guy who would take advantage of a situation like this, silly rhyming spell or not. But he just couldn't look away from Mal's posterior. The cutest pair of apple green panties peeked out from the rip. It wasn't indecent or anything. Just… intriguing. And hot. With a new definition of hot that he'd never even imagined before.

Ben expected her to freak out over what had happened. I mean, a servant could walk in at any time. Audrey would have been mortified if it had happened to her. In fact, Ben was pretty sure that Audrey changed clothes in the dark. Instead, Mal just stood up. She had a little corner of the parchment in her hand but obviously the storm had claimed the rest. She looked at it, sighed, and then tossed that little bit out into the wind as well. Then she reached back felt the rip, and gave a little laugh. "Figures." She said. Ben was human. And sixteen. So feeling guilty the entire time, he had the crystal ball follow her all the way to her room. From behind. But he did have it stop at her door. He was supposed to be kingly and Kings didn't peek inside girls bedrooms. Not even when they wanted to REALLY bad.

Ben watched Mal a lot more over the next few days. He resisted trying another spell but the temptation always there. But, eventually he realized that just watching 'Mal' be 'Mal' was enough for him. She was enchanting. In the non-magical way. She didn't take any guff from anyone and while people feared her, they respected her too. She loved to graffiti 'Evil Lives' on anything or anyone who stood still long enough to be decorated. But it was art instead of the destruction he would have expected. Beautiful swathes of colors, sharp edges, and amazing blends. He couldn't believe that she was able to do that with just a couple of rattle cans and a negligent swipe through the air. The jacket she wore was also amazing; it was obviously made from seven or eight discarded rags but she'd combined together the most striking portions of each and formed them into a cohesive whole. He paced his room for hours trying to banish her (or that little peek of her panties) from his mind but it was no use. He had to meet this girl.

And then the most amazing idea came to him. His father had mentioned the other day that he wanted Ben to make some sort of Royal Decree to remind the people that he was ready to take over. Why not bring over Mal? He'd already been thinking that the children from the Isle of the Lost deserved a better chance at life. It was also the perfect way to meet the girl of his dreams.


	2. Chapter 2

So, Ben had figured out that what he wanted more than anything was to see Mal, daughter of Maleficent, in the flesh. Well, so to speak. He'd actually love to see a lot of her flesh but clothes would actually be just fine for now. He needed a way to get her off of that island without looking like some sort of obsessed idiot. Sure, his dad had suggested he do some sort of Royal Proclamation but whatever he said still had to make sense. He sat and pondered for a while. Well, actually, he sat and watched Mal terrorizing other kids after school. So far, she'd made one kid eat a slug that he'd accidentally kicked in her direction. Then a girl across the yard boasted that she could do seventy five cartwheels in a row. The kids around her had oohed and awed, then looked over at Mal who reluctantly pulled herself off the ground to see. The boasting girl's face had paled when Mal quietly told her it was time to prove that boast. The girl had puked somewhere around cartwheel thirty three and Mal had let her stop. Ben was impressed she'd made it that far.

Actually, as much as Mal excited him, her meanness presented a problem. He wanted fire. He wanted passion. He wanted someone who cared about more than the color of shirt he wore. But he didn't want someone who was cruel. So he scoured the recordings of the Isle hoping to find that Mal wasn't actually lost to darkness. As he watched her escapades, he realized that, unless there was someone to watch her, someone who could report her behavior to her mother, Mal just left the other kids alone. He was pretty sure Mal was only cruel because her mom expected her to be. In fact, he remembered Maleficent railing on Mal on more than one occasion for not being mean and cruel enough. Every time, Mal would promise to do better the next time but Ben could see in her eyes that her heart wasn't in it. He even noticed a look on her face once or twice when she was tormenting someone that suggested what she was doing actually sickened her. This gave him a little bit of hope that he wasn't obsessed with a monster.

Mal's art was what really convinced him that there was more to her than the surface. When Mal was painting, well, all of the cruelty drained out of her face. She smiled. Not an evil smile, but a smile of joy. She would effortlessly wave spray cans of green and yellow until they produced the most beautiful blends of color. It was amazing. Even more amazing was that she never seemed to talk about her art, which in Ben's view was her greatest accomplishment, to her mother as anything other than vandalism. No one put that much effort into destruction. And normally someone who could do that kind of work would be boasting to the entire world. Instead, Mal just kept her joy from it to herself. Maybe that was the only joy she had in her life and this was a way to protect it from her mother. But Ben was sure of one thing. No one with that kind of appreciation for beauty could be truly cruel in their heart.

So, he went back to watching Mal interact with the other kids on the Isle and trying to come up with a plan. Seeing the Isle of the Lost kids in a group suddenly gave Ben an idea. "It would be really suspicious if I tried to just bring Mal over." He thought. "I don't think there is any way I would slip that past my dad and Audrey. But if Mal was part of a group then it wouldn't be so obvious." The idea had merit. Then he thought about it some more. Mal would still stand out in most crowds. It wouldn't be as obvious that she was the target of his affection but, still, she was a major name to bring over from the Isle. So, not just any group would do. What he needed was more kids to pair with her who were bigger than life. Ones that would catch people's attention in different ways. "Time for some more research." He mused.

The decision was made more difficult when he decided that whoever he chose needed to serve double duty. Audrey and his father both needed to be sufficiently distracted so that Ben could pursue Mal in peace. Mal herself already fell into that category. Her mother, Maleficent, had put Audrey's mother, Aurora, and the rest of her family to sleep for years and years. It was common knowledge that all of Audrey's family still held a grudge on that score. Not that he could blame them, they'd missed seeing Aurora grow up and that was time that could never be replaced. It wasn't Mal's fault of course, but that wouldn't stop the entire family from going up in flames when she arrived. Plus, it should make Audrey look at Mal as an enemy instead of as a rival for Ben's affection.

So, he reluctantly broke his habit of constant Mal watching and started scouring the rest of the island. He needed to choose the other kids carefully. Preferably they wouldn't be so bad as to actually dismantle the kingdom while still having enough excitement to be useful to his purposes. Some weak child of some thug or goon on the Isle of the Lost wasn't going to disguise his true purpose in bringing Mal over. As he looked around, he came to another realization. He didn't want anyone who was truly violent. He'd never fogive himself if this little lark of an idea got someone hurt. So he kept scanning the island looking for just the right people. Finally, he found the first one. Jay.

Jay was the son of Jafar. There didn't seem to be any sort of mother in the picture but that wouldn't matter for Ben's purposes. Jafar was known for being sly. Cruel. And anyone who saw his son would assume the same. Especially thanks to Jay's profession.

Jay was a thief. A very good thief.

Jay took everything that wasn't nailed down. And occasionally, he even brought a hammer with him and pulled out the nails holding down a particularly choice item. Ben had laughed out loud when he'd seen that. All of Jay's loot went to his father to be re-sold in their shop. Most of the island was used to buying their stuff back just to have it stolen again a few days later so really, the entire process was a bit silly. But Ben could tell that Jay's thievery wasn't truly based on greed. It was based on a desire to show the world what he could do. If there was an easy way and a hard way to steal something, Jay usually chose the hard one. Whenever possible, he arranged that whoever he robbed knew that it had been Jay who did it. He was quick. He was strong. He could pull himself up a wall or over a roof without much effort at all. It really amounted to one simple thing. Jay was a show off. And where did the most arrogant show offs truly belong?

Sports. Or, just maybe, public office.

Sports was safer though. If Ben's team wanted to win the next few games, they needed someone like that on their team. Plus, Audrey had a thing for jocks. He had seen her swooning over some other members of the team and had even tried to encourage her interest in the hopes that she would dump him and make this whole process easier. He hadn't had any luck. Audrey has remained glued to his side. But supposedly girls loved bad boys the same way boys loved bad girls. So maybe if he turned Jay into a jock, Audrey would make this whole thing easier by falling in love with Jay.

It wasn't likely but it was worth a try.

With his second choice made, he went back to searching the island.


	3. Chapter 3

And so Ben had two people chosen to bring over from the Isle of the Lost.

The first was Mal, the girl of his dreams. Literally; he'd already had two amazing dreams about her. In one, they'd gone for a ride through the forest. She'd sat behind him and wrapped her arms around him as they sped around corners. He even remembered feeling her breathing into his ear 'Faster…. Faster'. And she'd smelled amazing. So he'd gunned the engine faster and faster, turning quickly so she'd have to hold on tighter. Then she had leaned forward just a little bit farther and lightly kissed his earlobe. That had made him lose control and the both of them had gone soaring off a cliff into thin air. He'd woken up at that point breathing deeply and trying to decide if a kiss like that would have been worth falling off the cliff. He decided it wasn't because it meant he'd only have gotten the one kiss.

In the second dream…. Well, let's just say he liked that one even more.

Ben was still settled on the second coming over being Jay, the son of Jafar. Jay was arrogant and a show off so he should be the perfect distraction to Mal, regardless of how spectacular she decided to be. But he needed two more people, probably another boy and another girl. No reason to tilt the group one way or the other gender wise as anything uneven was always suspicious.

Ben went back to island watching. He wanted the offspring of another of the big name villains. Someone who, even if they weren't a big deal themselves, brought along a lot of baggage. He'd thought that the baggage in question was likely to be emotional. However, as he narrowed down his choice, he realized the baggage might just be physical.

Because that was when he noticed that the Evil Queen had a daughter. And you didn't get that much bigger than The Evil Queen so Ben figured he probably had a winner. The girl's name was Evie. "Not that original with names on the Isle, are they?" Ben thought. It kind of fit though; villain egos were generally so huge that it was pretty much guaranteed they'd name any children after themselves.

Evie was absolutely perfect. She was a flirt. An unapologetic, unabashed, flirt. She actually defined the word. It was QUITE clear which side her bread was buttered on. Evie spent most of her time hunting down the cutest boys she could find. She wasn't all that successful because she tended to be rather particular. She wanted them to be rich. She wanted them to be royal. And she wanted them to worship her. But whether they met the criteria or not, they all got a cute look and a suggestive comment. Ben liked her immediately.

The first two requirements were pretty tough to find. Pickings were pretty slim on the Island of the Lost. No one was rich. No one's titles really meant anything anymore because they'd all lost their land or kingdoms. The third requirement, worshiping her, was the only one that wasn't hard to find. A few boys that she'd dared to flip her eyelashes at had actually fainted from the experience. Every time she discarded one boy as unsuitable to be with, the word would circulate around the island and every boy old enough to have discovered girls would be hot after her heels. Or whatever else they were eying… Most of them did tend to look a bit higher than her feet.

Ben was pleasantly surprised to find that, just like Mal, Evie was still kind inside. The island hadn't destroyed her. At least, it hadn't yet. A couple of times Ben noticed a look in Evie's eyes that said that all she really wanted was someone to like her for herself, not for her face or her body. But he had a feeling that her hope of finding someone worth being with was starting to fail. Eventually she'd have to settle for one of those idiots on the Isle and try not to resent him for the rest of her life. Ben didn't think she'd be all that successful. As long as Evie defined herself by the person she was with, well, her happiness was pretty much doomed.

Ben took a few minutes to reconsider his scheme at that point. He was seriously messing with people's lives at this point and no amount of teenage fun was worth actually hurting people. But as he watched Evie suppress yet another set of tears when some bastard let her down, he realized that his meddling couldn't do anything but good. These kids were stuck in the worst possible surroundings. They were trying to find some sort of success and happiness but there wasn't any to find over there on the Isle. No one flourished in a prison; that was the entire point of prisons. And these kids really weren't guilty of what their parents had done. But if they continued to stew in that vile murk of a home, they would end up just as bad as their folks. And there is nothing more dangerous than a person who has no hope.

Evie had a few other interests. She seemed to enjoy reading as an escape from the life on the Island. Much of what she read were tales of happy princes and princesses. But the shortage of books on the Island meant that sometimes all that was left were things like textbooks and histories. Evie devoured those as well. Ben was impressed. Even with his prep school education, he'd have had a difficult time making it through some of those volumes.

That was when he realized what Evie needed. She needed options. She needed new ways to define herself. Her mother constantly told Evie that physical beauty was the only thing worth having. And sometimes Evie seemed to believe it. And other times, well, it seemed like she wanted there to be more.

"I guess I can do some good for others on this little adventure." Ben thought. "It seems pretty petty to only focus on my own desires." Sure Ben had a mission to get to know Mal. But the future king in him seemed to demand that he do more. Giving Evie the option to be more than a pretty face seemed to be the least he could do.

And so Evie was set to be number three.

Time was getting short. He needed a fourth person to round out the group. He wanted to take the same care in choosing this last companion but ultimately it came down to this. As soon as he saw Carlos, he felt sorry for the poor lad.

Carlos, the son of Cruella DeVille, had been on the edges of everything he'd been watching up until now. His mother was insane. Not the evil 'insane' that he'd used to describe someone like Maleficent. No, his mother flat out bonkers. Why on earth would ANYONE want a dog fur coat? Ben could have understood if she'd somehow hated all of those puppies and wanted to get rid of them. Not agreed with her of course, but at least that would have made sense. No. Cruella had wanted to wear them when she went out for dinner. The thought was disgusting.

And that was the type of woman who was raising Carlos. She controlled him by fear. He was absolutely terrified of her. And of dogs. And of the dark. And, well, everything. Ben wasn't sure but the boy might have even been afraid of chewing gum.

What the boy could do was piece together all of the junked electronics that made their way over to the island. His skill was impressive. He knew how to do just about anything with practically nothing. Just like Evie, the boy needed a better place to grow up. In fact, Carlos might even be the one with the best chance of finding a better life over here in Auradon even if Ben's plan failed and Mal wouldn't give him the time of day.

The four kids were set. All Ben needed was to convince his dad to allow them off the island. That would be child's play.

Then he realized that he needed one more thing. He had missed a vital piece of the puzzle. Just because an offer for the kids to come to Auradon Prep went to the island did not mean the parents would accept it. Those parents were monsters and had no reason to cooperate. He couldn't just paint it as a better life because those parents didn't want their kids to have a better life. He needed to find a reason for the villains to let the kids leave.

And the only way that was going to word was if he needed a way for the villains to think they could leave too.


	4. Chapter 4

Ben leaned back in his chair and started talking to himself. "Well, I've got the group picked out. How the heck do I get them over here?"

"How do you get who over here?" asked a voice from the open door.

Ben panicked, looked over, and then relaxed. "Lonnie. Thank goodness it's just you. I thought it was Audrey."

Lonnie snorted. "Seriously? You thought it might be Audrey coming up to your room unescorted? No chance of that." She flopped onto Ben's bed. "Audrey's afraid to be alone in a room with you."

"I don't know why. I have no designs on that girl's virtue. Hey, aren't you concerned about being alone with me?" Ben asked.

Lonnie looked him up and down. "Nope." She said. Then she looked at him again and wrinkled her nose. "Yuck."

"Hey!" Ben exclaimed.

"Sorry. You're not my type. Nothing personal."

"It's hard not to take 'yuck' personally, but I guess I'll get over it. So what's going on with you?" Ben asked just a little too quickly.

"Well, I was down in the quad and there was the cutest girl… Wait a minute, you never answered my question. What were you talking about when I came in? Who are you trying to get over here?" Lonnie looked sternly at him. "Give it up. You know I'll pry it out of you eventually so just spill."

"Oh alright." Ben acquiesced. "I might end up needing your help anyway so I might as well let you in on my plan. I'm going to bring over a few kids from the Isle of the Lost. You know, so that they can experience a normal life instead of the mockery that their parents provide."

"That's a great idea. A noble and wonderful idea. And I'd even believe it if I hadn't met you. Have you suddenly turned into a saint when I wasn't looking?" At Ben's flush, Lonnie continued. "It was too much to hope . Down to business. Details please?"

"It's… Well, it might be easier if I just showed you." Ben said. He powered up the crystal ball spying apparatus and showed her the kids one by one. "That's Jay, the son of Jafar. He has a need to prove himself that I think might work well on the sports field." A bit of adjustment and the next kid was in view. "There's Evie. She is the daughter of the Evil Queen. Just like her mother, she thinks that beauty is all that matters. I'm hoping we can change that." Another adjustment. "Carlos, the son of Cruella DeVille. Lord, that mother of his… I've got to get him out of there." One last twist of the ball. "And there's Mal – daughter of Malificent. She just rounds out the group." He tried and failed to downplay the last name.

Lonnie stared. "Oh my goodness that purple hair is hot. And that tight jacket… She's gorgeous. I call dibs!"

"You can't call dibs! I found her first! I call dibs!" protested Ben.

Lonnie rolled her eyes. "Hah! I knew she was the reason you came up with this whole scheme. You always did have a thing for purple. So tell me about her."

"Well, she's really pretty." Ben started.

"I know that, dummy. I have eyes." Lonnie said. "Get to the real stuff."

Ben finally broke down and told her the entire story from the beginning. Lonnie's eyes got wider and wider as he explained.

"You don't have that little green panty bit recorded, do you? I've got to see that." she asked. Ben started to cough nervously. "Never mind. I'm sure you do but I'll let it slide for now. So, you're bringing over the other three as a cover for miss sweetie pants, right?"

"That's pretty much the plan." Ben admitted.

"And you're hoping that as soon as she arrives, she's going to fall head over heels in love with you?"

"I'm kind of counting on it." Ben also admitted.

"You're insane. Absolutely insane. You know that, right? Well, with this much effort, I certainly hope she at least gives you a second look."

"Hope springs eternal…" said Ben.

"Gross." replied Lonnie. "Nothing should be springing anywhere. Still, you do clean up pretty cute. And being a prince rarely hurts your chances on charming the ladies. You've probably got at least a chance."

"Seriously, Lonnie, I like her. Yeah she's cute. But I've been watching her a lot and, well, I like who she is inside and out. Or at least, who I think she'll be once she'd free of that mother of hers.

Lonnie took a second to look closer at her friend. "You're really smitten, aren't you?" she asked. "I'm proud of you. After all this time putting up with Audrey I wasn't sure that you still had it in you." Lonnie stopped for a minute to think, then spoke again. "Hey, those kids are descended from some pretty awful villains. How do you plan on making sure they don't destroy the realm while you're wooing the girl of your dreams?"

Ben got serious. "Because I've been watching them. Watching them a lot. Those kids have a lot of potential for good in them. But if they never get out of that hellish place, it will all be wasted. Jay… He could be really great if someone gave him a purpose in life. Evie… She needs to find out that there is more to being a girl than being a pretty face. And Carlos… Well, that kid just needs out of that place and everything will fall into place for him. I, well, not just me, all of Auradon owe them that chance to make good choices."

"Wow. You have grown up. Maybe you won't be such a bad king."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Ben drawled.

"You're welcome. So how can I help?" she asked, rubbing her hands together like some sort of evil criminal

"Well, these kids are descended from villains. Which means they don't have the happy and kind parents that we have. Letting the kids come over here is a great opportunity and I'm not sure the parents will let the kids come. It doesn't seem to be in their nature to let someone else be happy."

Lonnie tapped her fingers on the covers. "You have a point. Hmm… Hey, your coronation is coming up. And villains love to ruin stuff. How about you hint in the letter that you send to the Island that it's important that the kids only come over if they promise to behave for it? Set up a little potential for disaster? That should get those evil brains working in the right direction."

Ben was hesitant. "But what if they really do ruin the ceremony?"

Lonnie laughed. "Who cares? I mean, there isn't a lot to ruin anyway. The whole ceremony is basically waving a wand and putting a big hat on your head. The entire thing is pretty absurd."

"It's not a hat, it's a crown." Ben said defensively.

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's a crown. How silly of me. Pity it isn't a hat. That might actually be useful."

Ben looked at her. "I'm not sure I follow."

Lonnie giggled again. "At least a hat would keep the rain off of your head."

Ben reached over, grabbed a pillow, and smacked Lonnie with it. It evolved into a larger pillow fight with Lonnie handily won. Pinning Ben on the floor with his arm wrenched behind him, she taunted him. "Say Uncle!" she stared with. He did. "Say 'I am dragon poo'" She said next.

"You are dragon…." Ben tried to say but Lonnie pushed his arm farther. "All right. All right. I give up. I am dragon poo. Am I done?"

Lonnie smiled. "One last thing. Say 'Lonnie gets Mal!'"

"Never!" laughed Ben and with a big tug, he pulled himself free.

They both sat there breathing heavily. Finally Lonnie spoke. "Goodness that was fun. Pity you're not my type."

"Hey, I offered. Several times as I recall. You turned ME down." Ben said.

"And I'm going to keep turning you down. Even if… No. You're almost like a brother to me. Little miss purple is going to be your best shot at happiness."

Ben nodded. "So, you are going to help me?"

"Of course I am. You deserve someone who actually likes you and I can't wait to see Audrey's face when her world falls apart. Not that I'll let her know how amused I am because I don't want to be cruel, but, well, that girl has it coming. Plus… Ben… You're right. Mal is special. Even if she doesn't fall for you, she, just like the others, deserves a life off of that island. She deserves a chance to make her own choices instead of her mother's."

Ben and Lonnie spent the rest of the afternoon putting together the Auradon Prep welcome packet that would be sent to the parents on the Isle. They put in lots of hints about upcoming activities that the kids could disrupt and added a stern note that they were not to interfere with the coronation. They figured that would be enough bait to get the parents to allow their kids to leave but not so much that it would be too obvious. Or too dangerous. Ben wanted to find love, not destroy the world.

Author's Note – Lonnie in this story could be straight, bi, gay, or just enjoy teasing the ever loving crud out of Ben. I've decided that since it doesn't actually matter, I'm not going to define it. What is clear is that she and Ben are very good friends.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now's when it gets a bit complicated. I've pretty much reached the film. And even if I was going to ignore copyright (which we all play on the edges of), I don't want to just repeat what happened. So I'm going to let you know where my 'extra' material fits in.
> 
> -Set after the opening scene where Ben convinces his father to allow the villain kids to come to the island.

Ben burst into Lonnie's room, causing a squeal of panic as Lonnie flung herself behind her closet door. "It worked! She's coming!" he caroled with joy. Lonnie peered back around, saw it was Ben, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Please remember to knock, buddy boy. This is a girl's dorm room, you know."

"So, what? And why did you jump behind the door? Are you undressed or something? I'm sorry. It's the middle of the afternoon so I didn't think about that possibility." Ben was so excited he could barely stop talking.

"No. I'm dressed. And I'll forgive your exuberance because you will finally get to meet the girl of your dreams in the flesh." said Lonnie, coming back out from her hiding place. "You just startled me. And please try to remember to say 'they're coming' instead of 'she's coming!' That is unless you want Audrey to get suspicious before this scheme even gets off the ground. Hey, you managed to let me know yesterday that your Dad had bought the plan but you didn't have time to tell me the details."

"Well, now I have time. Dad agreed to my plan and so the packets were sent. I just heard from the Island. The villains have agreed to send their kids. So everything is set." He took a deep breath. "Yesterday was intense. To tell you the truth, Dad didn't love the plan about bringing over Mal and the others. For a minute, I thought I was in trouble. But I had an unexpected ally. Mom was on my side. She said that she'd given him a second chance, so the kids deserved one too."

Lonnie thought about it. "She's right. As I understand it, your dad was NOT a wonderful guy to be around when your mom met him. He had a hell of a temper."

Ben laughed. "He still has the temper. He just mutes it a bit when people might be watching. I asked him about it once. He said that it's OK to get mad about things sometimes. It shows you care. Just don't get so mad that you lose sight of what's important."

"And what's important to your dad?" asked Lonnie.

"Mostly not breaking the furniture when he gets mad. Every time he does, Mom acts like he's killed someone." Ben laughed.

"She has a point. Before his curse was broken, the furniture were people." replied Lonnie. "So, while you were there, did you get the other thing?"

"You mean the signet ring that you went on and on and on about? Yes I did. It was easy. I pointed out to Mom that it would look good with my suit for the coronation and after that, she wouldn't have let me leave the room without it." Ben pulled the signet ring out of his pocket to show to her. "I think it's because it's yellow gold and my mom LOVES yellow. Why do I need this thing anyway? You never explained." Ben asked.

"Ben, you're hoping to meet the girl of your dreams in a few days and, hopefully, you'll both fall head over heels in love. It doesn't hurt to have a ring on hand in that situation."

"So, what? I'm supposed to propose to her as soon as I see her? Because I don't think that's going to work. I'm hoping for at least two dates before I do that."

"Of course not. I just have a feeling in my bones that it's going to be useful. So don't lose it, alright?" Lonnie sounded evasive.

"You're hiding something. Why did you insist that I ask my mom for this specific ring?"

"It's a nice ring." replied Lonnie quickly. "Look, you're going to have to trust me on this one. That ring has more power than you could possibly understand. At least it does for a girl."

"Whatever."

"So, you also said the villains have agreed already?" asked Lonnie.

"They have. Rather quickly, actually. I expected them to mull it over for a few days but it came back almost immediately with 'Come get them now! – Maleficent' scrawled on the bottom of the letter. Time certainly hasn't taught her to be polite."

"I wouldn't have expected it to." replied Lonnie. "Shouldn't we be worried that they agreed so quickly?"

Ben shook his head. "They probably just picked up on the coronation bit I put in the letter and want to make sure their kids can be here in time to try to ruin it. We'll just have to be careful."

Lonnie sighed. "I suppose you're right. Anyway, have you figured out how you're going to greet Mal and the others when they finally arrive?"

"Actually, that's already been taken care of. As soon as she heard about the new students, Fairy Godmother arranged for the works. They'll be brought over by a limo and then they will get the official school welcome. Marching band, flags, banners, and the works."

Lonnie snorted. "She's going to do all of that to them on day one? Is she trying to scare them away?"

"Not really. It isn't in her nature to do that. But I think she wants them to know that we know they're here. Kind of put everything on the table." Ben said. "I'm supposed to give a speech."

"I'm sure Mal will be thrilled to hear you speak."

"Hey, I want to impress her!" protested Ben.

"Don't worry. You will. Is Audrey going to be there?" Said Lonnie.

"Unfortunately yes. She said she wants to stand with me so that Mal and others know who is really in charge in the school."

Lonnie laughed. "Goodness that girl is full of herself. Well, that should be fun. Her snippiness will be the cherry on the top of the sundae. When do they get her?"

"About an hour. I'll catch up with you after, all right?" replied Ben.

"Please. I've got to hear how this went."

A few hours later, Ben caught up with Lonnie in the library. They found a quiet corner and sat down to speak.

"So how did it go?" asked Lonnie in a sing-song voice.

Ben was beaming. "It was perfect. She's perfect. She's as beautiful in person as she is in the crystal. And she has a sense of humor. I love that she mocked my speech. And, I made her laugh by saying Dad wasn't allowed on the sofa. And I touched her…." Ben trailed off.

"You touched her? Seriously? Like in public? You did wash your hands first, right?" Lonnie said in mock amazement.

Ben shook his head. "Oh stop it. It wasn't anything weird. I just shook her hand for a second. And it was like a spark ran between us. I think she felt it too. She felt something, anyway. She looked a bit confused."

"Well, that makes more sense then. Touching you is extremely confusing." Lonnie deadpanned at him.

"Hah hah" replied Ben. "Well, then Evie tried to flirt with me as soon as Fairy Godmother said the word 'Prince'. Audrey's claws came out at that point and they didn't go back in."

"I'd been meaning to ask about her. How did Audrey manage take all of this?"

"Well, she hated the lot of them on sight. That was abundantly clear. First she took the trouble to point out to Evie that, since her mother was no longer a true queen, Evie wasn't a princess. That was pretty cruel, especially when Audrey then pointed out that she was a real princess. And Audrey also made a point to tell everyone that she was my girlfriend. Basically she was rubbing salt into the wound that she'd just inflicted. Then she pulled that fake nice act with Mal while going over their colorful family history."

"I hate when she does that." Interjected Lonnie. "Go on…."

"After that, it seemed like every time that I moved, Audrey had her hands on me. And she kept calling me 'Benny-boo', which she knows I hate. She's never been that possessive of me. Ever. She even made a point of saying they should go to Doug with problems instead of coming to me."

"Interesting. And what was Mal's reaction to all of this?"

"I think she took it as a challenge. The more Audrey pulled on me, the more Mal paid attention to it."

"That's a pretty good start. Us girls can be just as dumb as you boys can be. Show us something that we can't have and we'll fight extra hard to try get it, or, in this case, you."

"I can hope." sighed Ben.

"Tell me about the others." said Lonnie.

"Jay was confidant. Supremely confident. Actually, it was rather hilarious. He walked right up to introduce himself to Audrey. However, he actually introduced himself to Audrey's chest. Just stared right at it. Fairy Godmother had to block his view with her head just to get his attention. Other than that, he wasn't any different than any other jock I've dealt with. I think he'd going to love Tourney."

"I'm sure he will. And I'll try to remember not to wear anything low cut when I'm around him. Okay. Tell me more about Evie."

"Evie… Evie just wants someone to love her I think. Or worship her. I'm not sure that there is a difference in her mind right now. She was even flirting with Doug. I thought he was going to pass out."

"Let's hope that actually goes somewhere. If there's anyone who can teach her that there's more to someone than just their looks, it's the son of a dwarf." Lonnie said thoughtfully.

"True. And then there was Carlos. He was basically friendly. I wasn't expecting that. He may be the least warped by his parental influence. We'll have to see."

"Was there anything else that caught your attention?" asked Lonnie.

"Just this. Mal spent a LOT of time asking about magic. Especially wands." Ben sounded confused. "I'm not sure what to make of it."

"Me either." Lonnie agreed.

Their conversation was interrupted when Doug entered the otherwise deserted library. He looked around, spotted Ben, and headed toward him.

"They're all squared away in their rooms and they've got their schedules." Said Doug. "They're… They're a lot to take in, aren't they?"

Ben laughed. "That they are."

"Umm, Ben? What do you know about Evie?"

"Let's see. So far, Evie seems to think that all that matters is beauty and status. And that the only way to do that is to play dumb. Which isn't all that surprising when you consider her mother. I'm hoping that will change once she has a better influence in her life. Like you, maybe."

"Me?"

Ben nodded. "Why not? If the son of Dopey can't help her figure out that playing dumb doesn't work, I don't know who can. How long did it take you to convince your dad that school wasn't a waste of time?"

"Years. Honestly, I'm still working on it. But at least I believe it now so I get your point." said Doug. "I'll try to talk to her."

"Sounds good." Replied Ben. "And be patient with her. It may take a while for her to figure it out herself."

"Patience is not a problem. Have you ever watched my dad try to put on socks? It can take hours. If I can survive that, I can survive anything." Doug looked over at Lonnie. "Well, umm, there was one more thing. Evie kind of smiled at me. And she twirled her hair. That means something, right? Hair twirling? I'm not all that experienced with these things"

Lonnie pretended to consider it seriously. "Sorry Doug. I can't tell you. It's part of the girl code."

Doug apologized. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have asked."

"I'm teasing you, you goof. Sometimes you really are your father's son. She was flirting with you, silly."

"Really?" asked Doug.

"Definitely. Now, I can't tell you if it means anything because I doubt she even knows right now. But that is what she was doing. Be careful. I think you're wonderful but it would take a LOT for the Evil Queen's daughter to consider dating the son of a dwarf. Especially the son of one that helped to foil her mother's plans for Snow White."

"Date?" said Doug. His voice cracked when his said it.

"That is where flirting sometimes goes." Replied Lonnie.

Doug blushed. "I guess it does." He looked down for a minute, then back up at Lonnie. "Hey, wait a minute. I missed something. YOU actually think I'm wonderful?" Doug began. There was a tremendous amount of hope in his voice.

Lonnie interrupted him. "Yes. I do. But I'm sorry. You're not my type so don't go getting any hopes up."

Doug looked disappointed. "Friend zoned yet again."

Lonnie was apologetic. "Sorry, but yes. Better that I say it now instead of later."

Ben cut in. "If it helps Doug, I'm apparently not her type either."

"Really?" asked Doug. He considered it. "Actually, it helps a lot. Thanks guys. So, now what do we do?" asked Doug.

Ben thought for a moment. "We watch them. All of them. Help them find the good inside. And try to catch them before they can get into too much trouble."


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Since the last chapter, here is a summary of what has happened in the film so that you don't have to pull it out and watch to see exactly where the story will fit in. I'll repeat this throughout the remainder of the story whenever I skip forward in time. The have attended their first Remedial Good 101 class and met Jane. Jay has experienced Tourney for the first time, which included taking out Ben (who was on Jay's team) right before he scored. Ben has promised to help Carlos with Tourney. Ben also had a discussion with Audrey and Chad about giving the VK's a chance. Then he tried to flirt a bit with Mal about her art on her locker. Mal left him to follow Jane into the bathroom where she pried out some wand information and enchanted Jane's hair.

There was a knock on Lonnie's door. She reluctantly pushed herself off of the floor where she'd been lounging and went over to open it. As she suspected, it was Ben trying to look all sneaky. He whipped his head back and forth to make sure the coast was clear and then popped into the room. Lonnie shut the door behind him, completely ignoring his theatrics. Then she sat down on her bed and looked at him expectantly.

The silence was deafening. Finally, Ben broke it. "Aren't you going to ask me how things are going?" he said.

Lonnie laughed. "No, I wasn't planning to. I was going to see if you exploded first. But I'll be nice and ask. How is it going?"

Ben spun around a few time. "It's going amazing. Absolutely according to plan. Jay took to Tourney like he was born to it. He absolutely smashed me to the ground on the way to scoring a goal. Of course, I was on his team so that wasn't the best plan, but, hey, it's his first day. I'm sure he'll figure it out. The coach was thrilled to have someone who knew how to fight for a change. Most of us are pretty wimpy out there. But the look in Jay's eyes when he was appreciated for something other than stealing… It was worth every bit of effort it took to get them here."

"The effort to get 'them' here? 'Them?' I thought the entire point of this was to get your hands on Mal's apple green panty covered butt?"

Ben looked defensive. "That's not the only reason I arranged all of this! Those kids deserve a better life." Ben took a minute to stand up and try to look regal. "I've already had this discussion with Audrey and Chad. I didn't think I'd need to have it with you. The way they've been isolated out there is wrong. You know it is. They're not their parents and they don't deserve to share their parent's prison. They should have a chance to make their own choices in life. And I have a responsibility as a Prince to make that happen." he said proudly.

"Are you done with your speech?" asked Lonnie. Ben nodded. "Oh good. Silly boy, you already know I'm on your side. I agree with you completely. They do deserve a chance to make their own destiny apart from their parents. But for the record, I'm also going to point out that in that big fancy speech, you failed to deny that you wanted Mal's butt." Lonnie teased.

Ben looked abashed. "I did?"

"You did and you do. You started that whole fancy speech by saying 'it wasn't the only reason'."

"Oops."

"Yep. You're busted. But that's the Ben I know and… nope. Love is definitely not the right word to finish that phrase. But I am fond of you, so, whatever…. Anyway, before you start raving about your 'beloved Mal', tell me how the others are fitting in."

"Well, I don't know a lot about Evie yet. Doug is going to work on that for me though. But Carlos was out there on the tourney field too. He wasn't a natural, but he tried. He probably has his work cut out for him if he wants to stay on the team but he seems to be pretty quick. I'm planning on helping him later today. Maybe run some sprints. You know, the game isn't all about being tough. If I can help him find a way to really get the lead out, he should have a shot."

"So you need a way to motivate him?" asked Lonnie. Ben nodded. "Well, what motivated him at home?"

"Fear mostly. Both of dogs and of his mother."

"Well, we're not bringing her over here. So, how about you get a dog to chase him? That should make him move."

Ben looked shocked. "You're kidding, right? That would be insane."

"And bringing a complete stranger of a girl over from a prison island in the hopes that she'll fall in love with you isn't insane?"

"That's different! I fell in love with her the first time I saw her." Ben protested.

"Love or lust. Whichever one suits your purpose. But love at first sight does run in your family so that's why I'm helping you. Look, there are dogs in Auradon, right? Well, unless your next plan is to get rid of all of them, Carlos is going to have to learn to face his fears."

"I guess he will. So, what do you suggest? We sick a pack of hunting hounds on him and see who wins?"

"Of course not. Just set up those sprints for Carlos. Then sneak a piece of bacon into his pocket and make sure Dude sees it. He'll do the rest."

"You want me to have Dude attack him? That won't work. That dog couldn't kill a fly. I watched him try once. The fly escaped."

"Not attack, chase. Dude will chase him to get the food. And Dude is gentle enough to convince anyone that dogs can be friendly. Especially if they smell like bacon. All you have to do then is help Carlos to figure it out."

Ben laughed. "That might actually work.

"It will work." Said Lonnie. "So how are things with Mal?"

"She and I have had a couple of moments. That's about all. Every time I see her I get all tongue tied."

"I know what you want to do with that tongue." teased Lonnie.

"Shut up. I mean, I just want to wrap that girl in my arms and kiss her every time I see her. I think she is as dynamic and smart as I was hoping she would be."

"You think? But you're not sure?"

"Not yet. Maybe if I went on a date with her or something. I could finally talk to her long enough to find out who she really is. On the inside, I mean."

"I know what you want to find out. Anyway, to go on date, you'll have to be single first. Have you figured out how to get rid of Audrey?"

"Nope. And I probably need to figure it out soon because Audrey is the biggest thing in my way right now. I'll figure it out. It's kind of hard getting to know Mal since something always seems to interrupt us."

"How so?" asked Lonnie.

"Well, I was trying to talk to her about the painting she put on her locker earlier and then right out of the blue, she walked away to follow Jane. And twenty minutes after that, Jane was walking around with a hairdo that finally doesn't make her head look like a helmet. When I asked Jane about it, she said that Mal did magic to make it that way."

"Magic?"

"With a spell book and everything. Just like I saw her practicing on the Isle. But now it works."

"Interesting. So that's why Jane finally looks good. I saw her in math earlier and it was like she was a different person. She needed that change. You'd think that with a mom who made Cinderella beautiful enough to capture a prince, she could get some help on finding a haircut that works with her features. But Jane's been stuck with that pathetic hairdo for years. I'm not completely obsessed with looks but it's silly to stay with something that really doesn't work. The new one looked great. Magic. I'd never thought of using that for hair. I am actually a little bit jealous."

"That's kind of what I was hoping to hear. Because I want you to go see Mal and convince her to do your hair. It should get you closer to her and let you get more information for me. You'll be my spy."

"I'm already your spy. But I like my hair. That's why I was only a little bit jealous." Lonnie looked over at the mirror to check it to be sure. "My hair is fine. I like it. You like it, right?"

"I like it a lot." said Ben.

"And I'll admit that the magic part does make me a little bit nervous. What if she messes up?" Lonnie asked.

"It'll be fine. You saw her locker, right? And those sketches she dropped on the way out of Remedial Goodness 101 that I found? I don't think Mal could create something ugly even if she tried. Trust me. She'll make your hair cool."

"Cool, normal, whatever. Look, Jane's hair was a disaster so I'm not surprised that Mal intervened. Evil or no evil. But if my hair doesn't suck just as much, why on earth would Mal change it?"

Ben tossed her a pouch. "The first part of my plan is to pay her. There are fifty dollar coins in there. Should be enough convince her to do it."

"So fine, she's convinced. But won't it be suspicious? I mean, she still can't fix something that isn't bad. My hair is fine. Your plan won't work."

Ben pulled out a pair of scissors. Lonnie's eyes opened wide in horror. And with a very evil grin, Ben said "That's where the second part of my plan comes in. It involves…. Bangs."

Twenty minutes later they were both stating into the mirror. There was a large pile of hair surrounding Lonnie. "I can't believe I let you do this." Lonnie said, staring into the mirror.

"I can't believe you let me do it either. In fact, I didn't even think you were going to say yes." Said Ben, hesitantly "Did I make it look okay?"

Lonnie turned to look at him. "I thought the point was to make it not look 'okay'." She said darkly.

"Yes, but… I mean, in case she…" Ben didn't know how to go on.

Lonnie tried to sound upbeat. "It's a good plan. It's going to work. And you did a pretty good job for a prince who's never cut hair before. It's not so horrid as to be suspicious. Mostly, it's just not me."

"Do you really mean that?" asked Ben.

Lonnie looked him dead in the eyes. "Of course I don't mean it. This haircut sucks. But, I'm sure that it and the money will convince Mal to magic it back to something awesome."

"But what if I was wrong? What if she doesn't?" asked Ben hesitantly.

Lonnie looked at him. "Then you're going to steal that spell book and fix this yourself. Got it? I will not go through the rest of this year looking like a kid from 'It's A Small World'."

There was a knock at the door. Lonnie automatically called 'come in' without even thinking about it. It was Doug. He walked in, took a couple of steps, looked at Lonnie, and stopped.

"What did you do to your…." That was as far as Doug got

"Don't say another word." shot out Lonnie.

"But…" said Doug.

Ben stepped in. "I wouldn't. And we're going to have Mal fix it so everything will be fine." He said, hoping to diffuse the situation.

Doug tried to save himself. "But there's nothing she needs to fix." He said. But his heart wasn't in it.

"Shut up." Said Lonnie. "What did you want, anyway?"

"Oh. Sorry." Doug said. He addressed Ben. "I sat with Evie in chemistry today. She spent most of her time asking me who in the room was royalty. She was acting so air headed that it almost made me want to throw up. And then suddenly she was up at the chalkboard writing out this complicated equation for the atomic weight of silver out of memory. That was kind of exciting. Except, well, it was like she was reading it out of a book. She even said amu instead of atomic mass unit. And so I thought maybe she wasn't afraid to have a brain after all. And then that was ruined when Chad passed her a note to meet him under the bleachers at three." Doug finished his explanation with a 'that is that' kind of note.

Lonnie looked over at the clock. It was eight minutes until three. "Then why are you still here?"

Ben and Doug both looked at her confused. Finally Ben said "I'm sorry. I don't think either one of us followed that."

Lonnie looked at Doug. "You need to get your butt over to those bleachers and make sure you interrupt whatever Chad has planned. Got it?" Both boys still looked clueless. "Do either of you have ANY IDEA how many girls Chad has snogged under those bleachers? If Evie gets used like that it will destroy her." Doug's eyes focused as he finally understood what she was saying. "That's right. Now move!" shouted Lonnie. Doug raced out of the room.

"I should go too." said Ben. "Carlos said he'd be ready about now and I have to track down Dude."

"Don't forget the bacon." Reminded Lonnie.

"I won't." Ben hesitated. "Are you going to go see Mal?"

"I will. In a little while. When I find the courage to leave my room." Lonnie looked back at the mirror and ran her fingers through her much shorter hair. "Maybe if I put a clip in it…." Ben heard her say as he left the room.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Since the last chapter, here is a summary of what has happened in the film so that you don't have to pull it out and watch to see exactly where the story will fit in. Evie met with Chad under the bleachers, tried to kiss him and failed, showed him her mirror, and ended up agreeing to do his homework. Doug then told Evie about the wand being used at the coronation and asked her out. Evie left him and went back to her and Mal's room. Lonnie came in to get her new hairdo. Then Jay had a meeting with the coach and started to learn about teamwork. Cut back to the girl's dorm room. Evie tells the VK's that the wand would be used at the coronation while Ben was on his way to check on them…

Ben paced in the hallway, trying to find the courage to knock on Mal's door. "Just do it you idiot!" he screamed to himself inside. But he couldn't make himself knock.

Trying to distract himself from his nervousness, he went back over what had happened over the last two days and his meeting earlier with Lonnie and Doug.

The project with Carlos had gone even better than he could have believed. He hadn't even gotten around to planting the bacon in Carlos's pocket when Dude decided all on his own it was time to make a new friend. As the campus mutt, Dude had never really had a dedicated human to call his own and apparently decided that Carlos was the man for the job. Not that Dude was an actual thinking animal or anything. But the way he'd chased down Carlos and fit himself into Carlos's arms was beautiful. Actually, it was almost embarrassing. Carlos had looked so amazingly happy when once he'd come out of the tree to actually meet Dude. He had given up his fear of dogs pretty much on the spot. It was more than giving up his fear. He'd fallen in love with that dog. Maybe it was possible because his fear wasn't based on anything other than his mom's descriptions of canines. It's not like he'd actually been mauled or something and developed his fear naturally. Regardless, Ben would always consider bringing together those two lost souls as one of the better things he'd ever done.

He hadn't actually caught up with Lonnie until breakfast this morning. She'd been swamped by attention from all of the other girls last night regarding her new cool hair. Ben had tried to catch up with her a couple of times and then finally given up and waited until today. Once he got the entire story from her, he'd been thrilled. They'd taken the money but it looked like Mal didn't really care about it. Hopefully that meant she wasn't too fixated on wealth or possessions. Those were things that drove him nuts about Audrey. Ben was also impressed at Lonnie's idea to rip a little bit more of a slit into her skirt while she was getting her hair enchanted. That had really cemented her in Mal's mind as a cool person to know. He'd been a little shocked that Jane had done the same. He hadn't thought she'd had it in her.

Any fears that he'd still had about Lonnie being touchy about the haircut he'd given her to get this all started were quickly dismissed. Lonnie was thrilled. This was the look she'd always wanted but hadn't been able to figure out herself. Even better, as far as Lonnie was concerned, she'd actually made a friend in Mal. She was still going to watch Mal and the others for him, but, well, some of her doubts about finding the good part of Mal had been dispelled.

Evie… She was still something to worry about. He'd talked to Doug too and things weren't going as well on that front. Doug had explained that instead of trying to ravish her, Chad's purpose under the bleachers had been to get Evie to do his homework. Which meant that Chad thought she was smart. That wasn't too surprising. Chad thought that houseplants were smart. The problem was that Evie clearly didn't want to be smart. She just wanted to make Chad happy and only defined her success and self-worth through that magic mirror fragment that she'd brought along from The Isle. That had been a surprise. He'd thought the only magical object they'd brought over had been the spell book. He wondered if they had any other secrets. Maybe a wand? It would explain why they kept asking all of those want related questions. Magic didn't work on the Isle and maybe they didn't know how to get their wand to work. Doug had offered to talk to Evie about wands so maybe he'd find something out.

Actually, Doug was the most impressive part of that entire encounter. He'd asked Evie out. That was wonderful on a lot of levels. For one thing, it meant that he'd found some courage. He'd needed that. And by asking her with the full knowledge of how smart she was, he'd shown Evie that someone could value her for her brains. She needed to hear that in abundance. Finally, and most amazingly, it meant that Doug had let go of his self-doubts and considered himself good enough to have a girlfriend. That fear had been holding him back for a long time. There were other girls who would say yes if Doug asked them out but he never had. Ben was glad he'd made this monumental step. Granted the attempt hadn't produced a perfect result. Evie hadn't said yes. But she hadn't said no either. And that was extremely interesting. She'd just smiled at him and walked away.

"Enough of this." thought Ben. "Time to knock on that door."

As it turned out, getting all worked up about the conversation with Mal had been a waste of time. It had only lasted about a minute. He'd started by asking if they had any questions. Which was dumb because people always answered 'no' when asked that sort of thing. Then he'd thrown in that general 'let me know if you have any problems' bit that made him look like a complete idiot. But then it had gotten a little weird. Mal had actually asked him a question. She'd asked if they were all really allowed to go to the coronation. She even asked about possibly standing next to Fairy Godmother during it. That second question had sounded a bit fishy to him but it had given him a really good idea. He'd explained that no, they couldn't stand there. Then he'd explained that only he, his parents, Fairy Godmother, and his girlfriend could stand there. The clever part of the answer had been to say 'girlfriend' instead of 'Audrey'. He hoped that, if Mal really did want to stand so close to Fairy Godmother, she might be inspired to take over the role of girlfriend. He really, really hoped that Mal actually wanted to stand next to him instead of Fairy Godmother. Maybe the whole soaking up goodness bit was just a cover to spend time with him. That was probably just wishful thinking but it was all he really had right now. Regardless of Mal's reasons, Ben really needed to figure out a way to get rid of Audrey. She stood in the way of any of his dreams coming true. He thought about it. He wanted to do it soon but things were going to be nuts until after tomorrow's Tourney game. He decided that would sit down with Audrey after that and let her down gently. He didn't want to be a complete ass about all of this. There wasn't any need to dump her in public or anything like that. Breakups should be sensitive. They shouldn't involve marching bands. With that thought in mind, he headed off to dinner.

Late that evening, Lonnie was wandering the halls looking for something to do. Her mind was racing and after trying to fall asleep for a couple of hours, she'd given up and gone for a walk. After one more trip around the quad, she finally decided what the problem was. She was hungry. She needed a snack.

Well, anyone with any intelligence who lives in a boarding school quickly learns how to raid the kitchens and not get caught. So Lonnie headed in that direction and kept in the shadows so no one from the administration would catch her. Fairy Godmother really was a bit insane when the whole idea of curfews were involved. When she got close to the door, she was surprised to hear Mal's voice. And then Jay's, Carlos's, and Evie's. She couldn't really make out there entire conversation but she was pretty sure she heard the word 'tear'. But all four of them were in the kitchen together. That might mean something. Or, maybe they had the same plan she did. She had no doubts that all of them had learned on the Isle of the Lost had learned how to raid a kitchen. But, it was still a little fishy. Her hunger forgotten, she took a deep breath, thought of a good excuse, and barged on in.

Luckily, Mal bought the excuse that tons of other girls wanted her to do their hair without Lonnie having to spend too much effort selling it. Lonnie knew she wasn't a great liar and so she didn't want to get herself in too deep. She was also glad that a number of girls had expressed an interest in a magical makeover. So, her fib wasn't going to catch her up later if Mal checked it out. What Lonnie wasn't really prepared for was what the kids were doing. They weren't just grabbing something to eat from the fridge like Lonnie had been planning to do. They were… cooking. Well, technically baking. They were making cookies.

If you'd asked Lonnie for every single idea she had about what those kids could be doing in the middle of the night in the kitchens, she'd NEVER have said they'd be baking cookies. At first the idea seemed absurd. But, well, once you thought about it, it made a little bit more sense. Cookies reminded her of home and she figured the four of them must be feeling pretty homesick. Auradon was so different than where they grew up. Feeling for their pain, she decided that she might as well help them out. She reached out, grabbed a finger full of batter, and gave it a taste.

She was a little surprised at how much Mal and the others freaked at her tasting. But she quickly went from surprised to a bit creeped out when Jay decided to bat his eyelashes at her. I mean, as if she would have ever even considered going out with him? She hated jocks. It simply wasn't an option. Looking into his eyes, she remembered how he'd introduced himself to Audrey when he had arrived. She glanced down then up. Good. She wasn't wearing anything low cut. It was bad enough that Jay was staring at her. It would have been really awkward if he'd been staring at her chest. The tension was thankfully broken when Evie and Mal both asked her what she thought of the batter.

She thought about it. It wasn't bad. Not spectacular, but not bad. They asked if it was missing something. She considered it a little bit more and then she had her answer. She walked over to grab some chocolate chips.

To her amazement, they hadn't know what chips were. To cover, she started asking them about how their parents must have made them chocolate chip cookies when they were young. She assumed that if she explained the feeling of being loved and understood and the tall glass of milk and more love, then surely they'd remember. Maybe not cookies but something similar. Surely they'd understand what she was talking about. But from the looks on their faces, she was dead wrong. What was going on?

Lonnie just kept babbling until finally Mal explained that it was different where they came from. Lonnie still couldn't believe it. It wasn't possible. So she just kept talking about how wonderful parents could be as she did so, their faces got sadder and sadder. It didn't seem to matter how she explained it. Their mood just got worse. Then she inadvertently said the cruelest thing she could have. She said that even their parents must love them right?

And from the stab of pain she saw in every face, she found out that she was wrong.

This… this couldn't really be how they were raised, could it? To be denied love on such a fundamental level? For their entire lives? And even worse, she'd shoved how wonderfully she'd been raised right up their noses. It hadn't been on purpose, but… I mean, thank goodness Ben had come up with this crazy plan and hopefully they could bring over more of these poor kids. They could give them all a shot at a happy life. But the four kids were still just staring into her eyes like she'd stabbed them in the heart. Lonnie looked back at them helplessly and a tear rolled down her cheek.

In less than a second, Mal had wiped the tear off of Lonnie's cheek and was pushing her out the door. Lonnie absently noticed that her tear had fallen into their batter and she hoped that they wouldn't realize it or that, if they had, it wouldn't gross them out. Maybe those cookies were all they would have tonight to make them feel better. But she understood them encouraging her to leave so quickly. She didn't imagine that showing the kind of weakness that they'd shown her was a very smart thing to do on the Isle of the Lost. She was sure that they were just ashamed and didn't want her to see them that upset.

So, Lonnie stood in the hallway trying to decide what to do next. She was torn. Part of her wanted to run up and tell Ben everything she'd seen. These kids really did have hearts. They'd just never had anyone love them before. She wanted to tell Ben that he was right and that with a little bit of patience, he could draw the poor, scared beautiful Mal out of the armor she wrapped herself in. Figuratively at first. Draw out that beautiful spirit. And if, later, he wanted to try get the physical part of Mal out of her armor, well, Lonnie certainly couldn't blame him.

For all that she'd listened to Ben go on and on about the idea of being in love with Mal from the moment he saw her, a part of her had never quite accepted it. She hadn't seen what Ben had seen. Now she had.

Then she made a decision. She wasn't going to tell Ben a thing. What she'd just witnessed was too raw. It was too personal. She didn't feel like she had permission to share what she'd seen with anyone. Luckily, she wouldn't need to. Ben already loved his Mal. He just had to figure out how to make it happen. With that thought, Lonnie headed back to bed.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -This picks up from the last chapter. This covers portions of the film from different viewpoints.

Ben woke up early on Game Day. He felt ready. The practices had been going well. Jay was fitting into the team nicely and even Carlos was managing not to get in everyone's way. He was excited. Win or lose, the game was going to be amazing.

The conversation he had planned with Audrey afterward… well, it wasn't.

It was time to pull the trigger and end his relationship with Audrey. It wasn't fair to her to string her along like this. It wasn't Kingly. He'd definitely decided that he didn't want to be with her anymore. And that didn't matter whether things worked out with Mal or not. It was time to be a man. He'd make sure to do it privately though.

Classes went by quickly. The only thing that really caught his attention was that ALL the girls in his school seemed to have spent a lot of time on their hair today. Like serious wedding day/prom night time on their hair. It wasn't until most of the day was gone before he realized that it was all Mal's work. He took a little bit more time to look around. Mal did good hair. She could even make good money as a hairdresser if an art career didn't pan out. Or, you know, marrying him. He'd of course prefer if that happened but, hey, the girl had a lot of options.

At that point, he just had Mal on the brain. When school got out, he saw her standing at her locker in a pair of jeans that looked they had been painted on, a jacket that was more mesh than material, and a very form fitting tank top. Oh my goodness. How was he supposed to focus on a game with that image in his head? She was talking with Jay and Ben felt a brief stab of jealousy when he saw them. He still hadn't managed to have a conversation with her that lasted more than a few minutes. And definitely not a private one. But there she was chatting with Jay without a care in the world. He pretended that he was going through stuff in his locker while he waited for Jay to leave and give him a chance to talk to Mal.

At that point, two things happened. Jay turned to flirt with a bevy of girls who were all thanking Mal for their new look. That was good. If he was flirting with them, he wasn't going after Mal. The other thing that happened was that Audrey came up to talk to him. That was bad. And she then proceeded to destroy whatever respect he had left for her.

Audrey was actually upset that the other girls had gotten makeovers. It wouldn't have been quite as bad if she was just upset that she hadn't gotten one. In fact, he even would have been willing to intercede and ask Mal to do Audrey's hair as well. What he couldn't accept was the reason that she was upset. She felt that she wouldn't be special if all of the other girls got to be beautiful too. It was… It was…. Horrid. What kind of person felt that way? That their beauty was only valuable if others were ugly. That was getting deep into Evil Queen territory. In fact, he should probably warn Mal and the rest of the girls not eat any apples.

Ben began to rethink Audrey deserving to be let down easy when he broke up with her. He was even about to go ahead and just drop the ax then and there when she up and decided that needed to leave for her dress fitting for the coronation. "You may have gotten away for now" Ben thought, "but you're not going to be wearing that coronation dress anywhere near me."

Just then, Mal slammed her locker to get his attention. And called him Benny boo. He was going to have do something about that. It wasn't quite as bad when she did it as when Audrey did. Mal was teasing him. Kind of mocking his vanity. But he still didn't love it. Then, completely out of the blue, she offered him a cookie. And he ran into a moral dilemma. He wanted to accept any overtures of friendship from her. That was the entire reason for inviting her to the school. Well, it was if you ignored giving the four of them the chance to find good in the world. Which he wasn't ready to just discard. But dating Mal, or at least getting to ask her out, was still really important to him. And taking this cookie might be the only way that he thought he could get his foot in the door, so to speak. But he had this rule. No food before games.

He tried to explain to her why he didn't want to eat. He had a very good reason. Tourney could be rough and he had once taken a shield to the stomach and vomited all over the opposing player. It had been embarrassing, to say the least. Not that a single cookie was likely to cause that but it was the principle of the thing. Mal didn't even give him a chance to explain though. She just said that she understood, that it made sense that he didn't trust her. His heart sank. That wasn't the reason he didn't want to take her offer of friendship. But there wasn't any way that she would believe his explanation at that point. He was stuck. How could he manage to start a relationship with this girl once Audrey was history if he'd insulted her so badly. And in public even. So he grabbed the cookie. And he took a bite.

It was a good cookie. It was an amazing cookie. Holy cow, this girl could bake. And while he chewed that first bite, he kind of started to feel warm. Which wasn't too strange. It seemed like the clouds had suddenly cleared away from the sun. It was amazing. He didn't think the sun had ever shown so brightly before. He knew he was smiling and that the grin on his face looked stupid but he didn't care. He just wanted to look at this amazing, beautiful, wonderful girl and enjoy the world's perfect cookie. Even better, for the first time he could think of, Mal wasn't trying to get away from him. She just stared back into his eyes. She looked like she was waiting for him to say something but he was so full of feelings that he could barely speak. While he chewed some more, he stared into Mal's eyes. He'd never gotten a chance to look at them properly before. When he'd been watching her on the Isle, he'd generally been watching all of her. Or maybe just followed her butt when he was feeling a little bit naughty. In his defense, he only did it a few times and the girl had a great caboose. He did truly love her for herself, not her features. But her eyes. He'd never gotten to just concentrate on them before. Her somewhat pale complexion contrasting with her purple hair framed her face so beautifully and that contrast brought these golden flecks in her eyes. Oh my goodness. She might not know about those. That would be a disaster. So he told her about them. She didn't seem surprised. That was good. But then she took the rest of the cookie away which was disappointing. He loved this girl. He loved her and her baking. And he wanted to tell the world. He wanted to sing. He tried to sing.

Unfortunately, Jay dragged him out of there and forced him to get ready for the game. He didn't want to leave. It was the first time that he legitimately considered beating crap out of someone. But he didn't know if he could take Jay in a fair fight and, well, Mal might get mad if he beat up her friend. And that would be a disaster too. So he allowed himself to be dragged away to the game.

About an hour later, once Ben was concentrating on the game, his head cleared a bit. He still thought about Mal, but it was more about how he wanted to win the game for her. Then he could tell her how he felt. The plan seemed perfect. So he threw himself into the game in a way that he never had before. And the talents of Jay and Carlos really complemented that focus. The ending was a blur. He knew they'd won. He knew that Jay and Carlos had helped him and that the normally arrogant Jay had even given up the chance to score the winning goal to make sure that they did indeed win. They had truly become a team. This was what he'd dreamed of.

Wait. The game was over. Why was he still thinking about it? It was time. He'd been thinking about this in the back of his mind all throughout the game. He needed a microphone. Yes. Definitely needed a microphone. It wouldn't do for Mal to think he was ashamed of her or something. He needed to declare his love for her to the entire world. So, he grabbed the mic from the announcer and then he spelled out Mal's name cheerleader style. He thought that was kind of clever. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Audrey's face when she realized she'd helped him spell 'Mal'. She didn't look happy. Oh well. He'd worry about that later. Then he declared to all the world, or at least, everyone within the range of the speaker system, that he loved Mal. And the only way to really show her was to just abandon his dignity. So, he sang to her, because, well, she was beautiful and she deserved to be sung to. Jay had stopped him last time but this time the whole team and crowd backed him up. Heck, the marching band even joined in. It was the most amazing day ever.

Ben had been dying for an opportunity to tell Mal how much he loved her ever since he'd seen her on the island. This was finally it. He sang about how much he loved her. He danced like a maniac. He even threw her his sweaty jersey, which, when he thought about later, actually seemed a little gross. And somewhere in the middle of it all, Audrey had declared that she was going to the coronation with Chad and Mal had agreed to go with him. The only downside was that Mal hadn't let him kiss her, but, again, he was sweaty from the game so it probably was unpleasant to be that close to him. He couldn't resist hugging her though and made a note to take a shower as soon as he could.

After all of the hoopla wore down, he realized that he actually had effectively dumped Audrey with a marching band. He tried to feel bad about that. He really did. But then he'd remember her being upset that other girls got to be beautiful and decided that the wench deserved it.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -This picks up from the last chapter. I'm summarizing a lot of what happens in the film at this point by showing it from other people's viewpoints.

The party after the game was in full swing. There were pizzas and bottles of pop everywhere. Everyone was laughing and talking. Evie had begged off to study but not before she and Mal had done a little bit of karaoke. Their singing was beautiful, if rather surprising. Ben didn't imagine the Isle as a place where you would learn to warble a tune but he'd been dead wrong. Mal, Jay, and Carlos were still around and obviously having a great time. Ben was trying not to hang on Mal's arm too often. It was difficult. He just wanted to touch her. Hold her. He desperately wanted a kiss but after trying to kiss her in public at the stadium, he'd decided that his next attempt would be far more private. But from time to time he snuck in a hug or managed to put his hand on her shoulder. It was amazing. Sparks flew inside his heart every single time that he touched her.

Lonnie was waiting back at Ben's room when all of the celebrations had finally worn down. Ben just glanced at her when he walked in and then gone over to collapse on his bed. The team hadn't had a victory like that in a very long time and they really had pulled out all of the stops. When Mal had finally left saying that she needed to study for Remedial Goodness 101 if she was going to get to stay in school with him. He couldn't argue with that. To have brought her here after so much trouble and then have her get expelled due to poor grades would just be unthinkable. But he loved being with her and he missed her terribly when she left. She'd done one last song before she left and, for the first time that he'd really ever seen, Mal had let her guard down. He thought that it had surprised her more than it had surprised him. He also figured that moment of weakness, as she would have seen it, was probably the real reason that she'd cut the evening so short. She was probably terrified of having shown that much of her feelings to strangers.

He had the immediate future planned out though. He was planning to ask her out on a real date tomorrow since he figured that they should get to know each other a little bit better before the coronation. Sharing a carriage ride with her to the ceremony before they'd had a proper conversation seemed like a recipe for disaster. So, he definitely needed to spend some time with her alone. Plus, he was hoping for another chance to stare into those beautiful eyes. It was like staring into her soul.

Lonnie just sat there watching Ben lie on the bed. When the silence finally had gotten too deafening, he managed to pull his weary head up to look at Lonnie. "What?" was all he managed to say before his head collapsed back onto the bed.

Lonnie took a deep breath. "Well, let's start with the good part. The song you sang after the game was inspiring. It was amazing. I cannot believe that you had the, umm, equipment to take that kind of risk. The entire crowd had a blast with it and I think it helped to make Mal and the others a tighter part of this school."

"What did you think about my singing at the party?" asked Ben.

"That, umm, could have been better. You seemed kind of distracted. Especially when Mal would collapse into giggles every time you missed a note."

"She was so nice about it that I didn't even feel self-conscious." replied Ben. "We're going to make an amazing couple."

"Speaking of couples, or technically, ex-couples, maybe that wasn't the kindest way to dump Audrey. Granted, the look on her face was absolutely priceless. Especially right after you finished spelling Mal out to the crowd. It was everything that I'd been hoping for. She kind of looked like she'd suddenly gotten a Tourney stick shoved up somewhere extremely uncomfortable. But are you sure it was wise to do that to her quite so publicly?"

"Wise? No, I won't claim that it was wise. But she really deserved it. Look, up until this afternoon, she just wasn't the girl for me. And that would have merited a far more polite ending to our relationship. But this afternoon, she really let me see the person who she was inside. And it wasn't a nice view. She'd noticed that quite a few of the girls had gotten a new hairdo from Mal and well..." Ben went on to explain the terrible things that Audrey had said.

Lonnie was speechless. She tried to talk. "Th-that…." She took a moment to compose herself. "I agree. She deserved it."

Ben smiled up at the ceiling. "So Audrey and I are finished. Mal and I are together. It was an amazing day. A perfect day. I got the girl of my dreams and we even won the big game."

"Yeah" said Lonnie. "That was the other thing I wanted to talk about. It was an interesting game." she said carefully. "I'm impressed that you managed to win. It was almost like it was magic."

Ben's head popped back up, some of his weariness forgotten. "What are you suggesting? Do you think we cheated or something?"

Lonnie stared back at him. "Not you. Them. Carlos and Jay."

"You're crazy." said Ben. "They, along with the rest of the team, played their hearts out. We earned that victory."

"I wish I believed you. But those two learned a lot about a game they'd never played in just a few days. That's suspicious all by itself." countered Lonnie.

Ben sat up. "Suspicion isn't proof. They worked hard and it paid off. Give it a rest."

"If you say so..."

Ben tried to be reasonable. "Look, obviously you have a reason to make these accusations. So, out with it. Did you see anything? Did Mal have her spell book with her or something?" asked Ben.

"No she didn't." Lonnie had to admit. "And it wasn't something that I saw. It was something that I heard. After the game, during your brilliant dumping of Audrey and asking out of Mal, I heard one of them say to the other 'what was in that cookie?'."

"I'm really not following this." complained Ben.

"I know you aren't. Look. They talked about some cookie like it did something special, like it had an effect on the outcome of the day. I know this is kind of involved, so just stay with me. There was something that happened last night that I didn't tell you about. Please don't be mad. Last night I was up late walking..."

"Couldn't sleep again?" asked Ben.

"Correct. Anyway, my wandering led me to the kitchen where all four of them, well, all five of them since Dude seems to be a permanent member of their group now, were baking cookies."

Ben looked confused. "I'm not sure how baking cookies could add up to cheating. Or for that matter, why you didn't tell me about it. But I'm willing to listen. What was going on?"

"Ben… I think they were homesick. Or, at least, that's what I thought at first. I felt terrible for them so I was trying to cheer them up. I introduced them to chocolate chips. I couldn't believe they didn't have them on the Isle. And I started telling them about how my mom used to make me cookies when I was sad… and how much it made me feel loved..."

"You wanted to share your happy memories with them. It sounds like a nice thing to tell them about." replied Ben.

"For most people, it would be. It would help them remember their own good memories. But the more I talked about being happy and about being loved, the more I realized that they'd never experienced that feeling. Ben? They way they've grown up. Its… horrid. Abusive. Cruel. Absolutely not okay. From what I could tell, none of their parents actually love them. Those kids have never felt love before they got to the school. And thanks to you bringing them over, now they know what it is. Or, at least they know enough to show the hurt inside when they realized that they have never had it in their lives. And that's somehow even crueler. Before they got here, it was normal. Now they know what they missed having their entire lives. It was heart breaking. And there I was this terrible girl who just stood there and poured salt into their wounds. I'd have slapped myself if I could have. Hell, I literally poured salt onto them. When I finally realized how awful things were, I started to get emotional and, well, one of my tears fell into their cookie batter. I had stood there and bragged about how happy my mom had made me. I wasn't proud of that. So, I didn't tell you about it because, well, the moment was so personal for them. It didn't feel like I had the right to expose that emotion to anyone else without their permission. I also didn't tell you because I was so ashamed that I'd caused them that pain."

"You didn't mean to hurt them. It's okay. I'm sure they know you weren't intentionally being cruel. Mal obviously didn't hold a grudge since she was standing right next to you throughout the game. And, well, it'll help us help them now that we know how truly horrible growing up on the Isle was. But what does this have to do with the game?"

"They want to find a place here so badly. And they knew that Jay and Carlos being part of the team would help cement them into our lives. They'd do anything to make that happen, wouldn't that? And I didn't realize it until just a little while ago when that cookie comment came back into my head."

"Didn't realize what?" asked Ben, sounding very alarmed.

"I didn't realize that I'd seen Mal's spell book on the counter in the kitchen when I went in. She covered it up and I was so focused on them that I didn't remember it until now."

"So?"

"Ben? My tear making it into that batter wasn't an accident. Mal flicked it off of my cheek and into that bowl on purpose. Those cookies they were baking must have been magic. Nothing else makes sense. And Carlos and Jay must have eaten some to get an advantage in the game."

Ben laughed. "That's why you're so upset? You think that they had performance enhancing cookies?" Lonnie nodded. "That's absurd. And even it they did, it didn't matter."

"Why didn't it matter?"

"Not a lot of people know this, but the field is counter spelled for no magic. It's actually standard for Tourney fields. Magic might be mostly retired but some people, such as Mal, still use it. And that does create the potential for cheating. So Tourney fields are set up so that whenever there is a game going on, any magic on the field is suppressed."

"But only during games?" asked Lonnie.

"Yeah. No reason to stop it from working the rest of the time. And it doesn't actually break the spell. It just stops it from working during the game. They made it that way so that, for example, if Fairy Godmother accidentally wandered onto the field carrying her wand during a game, it wouldn't go supernova."

"I didn't know that." confessed Lonnie. "But if I didn't know, then Mal and the others probably didn't know either. They still could have tried though." countered Lonnie.

"Jay and Carlos knew. Coach went over it with Jay and Carlos, well, technically with the whole team so that they wouldn't feel singled out. Word had got around that Mal was doing magic and coach wanted to make sure there wasn't any funny business. So, even if there were some 'magic performance enhancing cookies,' they wouldn't have done a thing to impact the game."

Lonnie breathed a sigh of relief. "Sorry about all of that. I'm feeling kind of stupid for even bringing it up now."

"I understand. It's tough to trust them. I've had my moments of doubt too. But, I also know firsthand that those cookies didn't do anything because I had one. Well, part of one. And I played just the same as always."

Lonnie shot out of her seat. "YOU WHAT!?"

"I ate a cookie. Shocking, I know. I have that whole no eating pregame rule but Mal was like 'you don't trust me' and I was like 'yes I do, but I don't eat', and she obviously didn't believe me. She was finally reaching out to me and I just felt like I had to reach back. I wanted to show her that I trusted her. So I grabbed a cookie and took a bite. Nothing happened. And, no one hit me in the gut with a shield so everything was really, really fine."

Lonnie was pacing back and forth. "You ate a cookie. Made by Maleficent's daughter? When was this?"

"It was right before I headed over to the field. And it wasn't an entire cookie. Just part of one. Mal took the rest back for some reason. But it was amazing. Best cookie that I've ever had, actually. That girl can bake. It's a pity you didn't stay with them longer last night and get a few fresh from the oven. Those must have been out of this world. Hey, that reminds me, I forgot to ask her if she had any more of them left."

Lonnie stopped pacing and stared him in the eye. "Ben, I don't know how to break this to you gently. So I'll have to be blunt. That cookie was magic. You've been enchanted!"

"You're being silly. And even if those cookies were what you said they were, the magic wouldn't have worked on the field during the game anyway. So it still doesn't matter."

"Would they have worked after the game?" asked Lonnie suggestively.

"I suppose they would have. But why would it matter if it made me perform better? I wasn't playing after the game. I was completely normal."

"Normal? You weren't normal. You were singing. You were declaring that you loved Mal at the top of your lungs. You were DANCING! Oh my goodness, Ben. I'm sorry to have to say it but you're an idiot! An absolute fool. Look at what has happened. You've put together the most convoluted plan I've ever seen to get the girl of your dreams off of an island and into your life. That took a lot of guts. So much in fact that I was having a difficult time figuring out why it was taking you so long to dump Audrey's sorry butt. But you'd had Mal here for several days and you still hadn't pulled the trigger on your previous relationship. That means you couldn't ask out Mal yet. So, I figured that you'd lost your nerve. I mean, you've seriously been wimping out. But now look at today. The game ended. The magic null thingy stopped working, right? And then all at once, your wimp streak disappeared. You suddenly grew a set. You didn't just ask Mal out. No, that wouldn't have been dramatic enough. You declared your love for her in front of the entire school. Over a golden microphone. And you didn't even bother to officially dump Audrey. You just let her figure it out on her own."

"It was the thrill of the victory. I was inspired!" Ben said.

"You were bamboozled. Flim-Flam'd. Enchanted!" shouted Lonnie.

"But why would a performance enhancing cookie make me do any of those things? That doesn't make any sense." He sounded like he finally had the answer to finish this discussion.

"Because I was wrong. It wasn't a performance enhancing anything. It was a love spell cookie, you jackass!" countered Lonnie. "It sat and incubated inside of you for the entire game. Then the game ended, the magic suppression stopped, and it exploded in your system!"

Ben looked insulted. "You're crazy."

"Am I? Are you sure? When was the last time you gave a spontaneous concert?"

"There's no love spell. I loved Mal before eating the cookie and I still love her after eating the cookie. I feel exactly the same as I did. The only thing that's made me feel any stronger about her was you telling me how much it sucked for her growing up. That made me want to help her to understand love. But that was over the last few minutes and you certainly didn't bring me anything to eat."

"Look, I saw the spell book. And the four of them were in the kitchen baking at midnight! They only gave you part of the cookie. Maybe because it was too strong to give you the whole thing…. I don't know that part for sure. But there's something going on, I know it." pushed Lonnie.

"I appreciate you looking out for me but I think you're chasing shadows." replied Ben.

Lonnie looked up at the ceiling trying to calm down. She couldn't believe Ben was being this naive. Heck, she couldn't believe that she'd bought their story, hook, line and sinker. But she was quickly realizing that the entire effect of a love spell made it impossible for the person suffering it to realize it was there. That was the whole point. "Okay," she said grudgingly, "maybe I was wrong."

"You were wrong. You are wrong." said Ben.

Suddenly, Lonnie thought of a way to snap Ben out of it. "Fine. You're planning on taking her on a real date tomorrow, right?" Ben nodded. "Take her down to the lake."

"I could. I mean, it's beautiful there. But why?" asked Ben.

"Because if you swim in it, it'll break any spells on you." countered Lonnie.

"There aren't any..."

Lonnie was grasping at straws. She needed a way to get Ben to be okay with this. "Look, I'm your friend. And I'm going to have a tough enough time tonight getting to sleep with all of these worries in my head. So, do me a favor and take her to the lake tomorrow. Make it a picnic. I'll even take the food over for you beforehand and make it look all pretty."

"But-" Ben tried to interject again.

"If there's no enchantment, then there's nothing you need to worry about. Right? No reason for you to fight me on this. Your taking that dunk in the spell breaking lake will make me feel better and won't do you any harm. So listen to me. Go have a picnic with the girl that you love. Talk to her. Take advantage of an opportunity to strip off your shirt and show her those amazing abs you have. Act silly to make her laugh. Us girls like that for some reason even I don't entirely understand. Wear those stupid crown trunks your mom bought for you. Those are guaranteed to make her laugh."

"I still don't think that it is necessary." countered Ben.

"So just enjoy the date. Heck, if you're really lucky, then maybe she'll shed a few clothes too and join you in the water. That wouldn't hurt your feelings at all, would it?" Lonnie had to laugh when this finally made Ben's expression change from disagreement to delight.

"I give up. You win. It's a deal." said Ben. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to get some sleep now."

Lonnie stood up, gave Ben a hug, and headed off for her room. She had done the best she could. Ben was love spelled. She hoped that she was wrong. She was really liking what she was seeing in Mal, and in fact, in all of them. She wanted them to be innocent. No one was perfect. There were parts of Ben's plan that were a little shadier than she would have preferred. But, he'd never gone to the point off taking away Mal's free will. If anything, he'd brought her over and given her a chance to make her own choices in the world. While he obviously hoped those choices would involve him, she knew that, deep in his heart, he'd let Mal make her own decisions. Lonnie desperately hoped that Mal felt the same way about Ben.

Lonnie had never wanted to be wrong about something more in her entire life. But she was pretty sure that she was right. Mal, Evie, Carlos, and Jay were, as they had 'jokingly' sung tonight at karaoke, Rotten to the Core.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -Evie was accused of cheating but passed the test without her mirror. She goes to celebrate with Doug but then is pulled away by Mal to help her get ready for her date.

Doug came careening into Ben's room.

"She said yes! She said yes! She said yes!" crowed Doug.

"Who said yes to what?" asked Ben.

"Evie. She said she wanted to hang out with me. It might just be schoolwork related, but, hey, I'll take what I can get."

"Good for you." said Ben. "What brought this on?"

"So, we were in Chemistry class and we had a test. Evie had really been working hard to do well. Suddenly, partway through the test, Evie looks in her purse for something. Maybe it was her mirror, maybe something else. I'm not even sure if she knows the truth. I think she didn't know the answer to something and got scared. Come to find out, Chad had swiped her magic mirror. And he gave it to the teacher. The teacher was... not amused. And he going to throw Evie out of class for cheating. In fact, he was even threatening to have her expelled."

Ben groaned. "Why can't that girl just believe in herself? She's brilliant. She'll be talking about something run of the mill and then jump into an explanation of something so complicated I don't even understand it. And I'm getting straight A's!"

"I know. And I'm still trying to encourage her. But just hold on, the story gets better. Well, like I said, the teacher was about to boot her out the door when I decided to stand up and defend her."

Ben looked at him. "You?"

Doug grinned. "Me. And I managed to talk him out of the whole thing."

"How in Auradon did you do that?" asked Ben.

"I appealed to logic. Which is about the only thing that works with our chemistry teacher. I said that Chad and the teacher had possession of the mirror during the test. So that meant that Evie couldn't have used it to cheat even if she had wanted to. The teacher granted my point and said that if Evie could pass this test all on her own, he'd return the mirror and forget the whole matter."

"So, Evie is going to spend time with you just because you got her out of trouble? That's the only reason? Doug, Doug, Doug, You deserve better than that."

"No, Ben. You don't understand. Evie passed the test on her own. She even came to show it to me because she was proud of being smart. She got a B+. This is what I, well, we, have been hoping for her to figure out. And to top it off, she wants to do even better on the next test."

"So, she's going to spend time with you because you liked her for who she really was and you believed in her when no one else did?" asked Ben.

Doug thought it over. It was kind of a convoluted sentence. "Pretty much."

"Then congratulations, Doug. I'm extremely proud of you for helping her find her potential. Have you ever considered becoming a teacher?" Ben asked.

"No, but it's a good thought." mused Doug. He glanced around the room. Shirts and pants were scattered everywhere. "Did your closet explode?"

Ben laughed. "No. I have a date with Mal in just a little while. A picnic by the lake."

"Sounds like fun." said Doug. "So what's all this?" he said, gesturing to the room.

"Hey, girls aren't the only ones that care about what they wear." Ben protested.

Doug saw him shoving a bathing suit into his bag. "You're going swimming too?" Ben nodded. "Does Mal know about this?" Doug asked.

"She does not." Ben admitted.

"But you're hoping she'll join you in the water? How is that going to work? She won't have a bathing suit."

"I hadn't thought of that." said Ben.

"So, that means that either she jumps in with all of her clothes on or..." started Doug

Lonnie interrupted him as she was walking into the room. "Or she ditches her clothes and jumps into the lake in her underwear." Lonnie said. "Or maybe even less than that. That girl can be naughty. You might evenfind out if those panties are still green."

Doug looked confused. "Still?" he asked.

Ben coughed. "Never mind about that." he said, shooting daggers at Lonnie with a look. "Look, I'm not worried about whether or not Mal goes swimming. In fact, the whole swimming idea is hers." Ben said, pointing at Lonnie. "She agreed to set up the picnic for me as long as I jumped in the lake at least once."

Doug looked over at Lonnie. "Why do you want him to do that?" he asked.

Lonnie smiled. "Let's just call it a dare." she looked over at Ben. "And it's a deal, so don't think you can get away with 'forgetting' or just 'dunking your suit in the water'. I'll know if you lie to me."

"You're right. It's a deal. Well, I'm ready and it's time to go get her. I wouldn't want her to think I wasn't coming." Ben walked over and grabbed the two helmets for his scooter off of the shelf.

Lonnie interrupted him before he could leave. "You're taking your scooter?"

"Yeah. I don't want to take one of the limos, then we'd have the driver around and things wouldn't be private."

"There's a hole in your plan, dude. You're about to go see a girl who's spent a bunch of time getting her clothes, makeup, and most importantly for this discussion, hair ready. And then you're going to force her to put on a helmet. Oh my goodness. You are brave."

Ben was hesitating now. "Maybe I could see if there's a car available..."

Lonnie thought about it. "Never mind. Your plan is still probably the best one. You get the privacy you want plus she's got to put her arms around you on the way there AND back. It kind of encourages you to get along. And Mal's the kind of girl who will appreciate a ride on a bike through the country. Just don't be surprised if she decides that she wants to drive on the way back and you have to hold onto her."

Ben looked at her. "So I'm good?" he said, glancing up and down at his outfit.

"You're good." Lonnie agreed. "One more thing. Make sure to compliment her before AND after she has helmet hair."

Ben enjoyed the drive into the countryside tremendously. He leaned into the corners a little bit extra just to feel Mal's arms tighten around him. She had this exotic perfume that somehow still reached his nostrils even while they were zipping down the road. He remembered her reaction when they'd gotten out to the parking lot.

"That's not a bike. It's a scooter."

Ben suddenly panicked. "Um, yes. It is."

"You said you had a bike." Mal said with that half smirk half frown that she used when she was calling someone out for a lie.

"It's kind of a bike..." he said, trying to save face."Just, umm, smaller."

Mal looked him in the eyes. "So, if you make any claims about the size of anything else, I should go ahead and just think smaller?"

Ben then had a coughing fit that lasted for several minutes. When he finally recovered, he asked fearfully. "Do you still want to go?"

Mal laughed at him. "Oh yeah. I've got to see whatever else you have planned for this date."

After a few miles of riding, she was just about to see it. They'd pulled off the road near the trail to the lake and headed toward the bridge. Ben looked back to take the helmet from her and discovered that she was gazing up at the trees and watching the sunlight reflect through the branches. He coughed to get her attention and then took her helmet and stowed it with his on the bike. Then he led her down the path.

Since the path was so clearly marked out, Mal quickly moved into the lead. Ben enjoyed the view. No, not that view…. Mal was… Ben was going to say that word was happy but he wasn't sure Mal knew the meaning of that word yet. That discussion aside, the most amazing part of what saw was that seemed to have let go of the barriers she usually kept between herself and the world. She wasn't afraid to be silly, jumping a bit on the bridge and wandering from side to side. She was answering his questions about the smallest of things. Favorite color, middle name, that sort of thing. And while Ben knew that Mal was likely very good at lying, she wasn't doing it right now. He could tell. She really seemed to be opening herself up the possibilities this date implied.

This was so different than the abortive dates he'd had with Audrey. Audrey would have been afraid of heights, afraid of bugs, afraid of the sun. And her mind never would have been completely on the date itself. Ben began to realize how truly lucky he was.

As a test of how game she was for new experiences, as well as how much she trusted him, he had her close her eyes and guided her around the last curve until she could see the lake. Mal's reaction was worth any amount of trouble. He didn't think anyone had ever gone to this much trouble to make something special for her in her life. He was just as happy. Lonnie had picked the most beautiful spot and laid out a spread of mostly finger foods. They were things that they could feed each other. Mal got a bit of crystallized sugar from a doughnut on her lips and he helped her wipe it away with his fingers. And then promptly wanted to kick himself for not trying to kiss it off of her. But, it was probably too soon for that. Mal was so open now. She was showing so much vulnerability that Ben decided that it was a good idea to wait for things like kisses. He wanted this relationship to be real. He wanted it to grow. And that wouldn't happen if he was some kind of horn-dog clown.

Mal even asked about him becoming king. Which was perfect because it gave him the chance to tell her how he really felt. That kids are not their parents and get to make their own choices in life. Even if he'd never gotten so much as a glance from her romantically, it has been more and more important to him that she know how he felt. Not just about her, but about people in general. For Mal and him to work out long term, they needed to have a similar outlook on life.

Things got a little intense and suddenly he remembered his promise to Lonnie about swimming. He suggested that she join him but she declined. Which he'd rather expected since as much as it was fun to imagine Mal jumping into the lake in her bra and panties, it wasn't realistic. And he didn't want her feeling pressured into anything. Plus, the look on her face when she had tried a strawberry for the first time… Well, she deserved a little bit of privacy to recover from that reaction.

He climbed to the top of the rocks to jump in. He waved his arms and got her attention. Just as Lonnie had promised, his crown board shorts made Mal laugh. So he built on that by screaming like a beast and jumping into the water.

Ben had been expecting the shock of the cold water wrapping around him. He'd braced himself for it. What he hadn't braced himself for was part of his connection to Mal breaking as soon as he went below the surface. There had been a spell. Was it from that cookie? Or was it from earlier than that? He wasn't sure. He swam off to one side of the rocks and out of sight so that he could take a minute to process the change.

The first realization that he had was, thankfully, that he still loved her. So it must have been the cookie just like Lonnie had claimed. But why would Mal do that? Why would she risk doing it just to get to know him? Did she want something from him? Or was she just so nervous about getting to know him that she used every advantage that she had. I mean, some girls and guys spend time making sure they have the perfect outfit or the perfect car. That sort of thing. Mal just had another tool in her arsenal. Magic.

He tried to be angry about having his free will taken away. If he hadn't already loved her, this could have been a disaster. But, well, he did love her. That was that. All he really needed to do was to find out if she loved him too. Well, that and get her to trust that he could love her back without the need for a spell.

Amidst all of these thoughts, he heard Mal singing softly to herself. He didn't catch every word. And he was pretty sure that Mal wouldn't have wanted him to. To go closer and try to listen would, well, be just as bad as the love spell had been. It would have been violating the privacy of her inner thoughts. He caught one line though and it almost stopped his heart.

'Will you… still be… with me… when the magic all runs out…."

Oh my goodness. Those words… Her longing. Her doubt. Then he heard her sing 'If only'. The pain in those two words were more than he thought she could handle another person witnessing. It would have been worse than being stripped naked. He needed to make sure she didn't realize that he could have heard her. "Rocks." he thought. "There are pretty sparkly rocks in the deepest part of the lake. I'll dive down and get her one and then pretend it's something special..." He pushed off from the shore and dove deep. As he came up, he saw her legs flailing in the water. She'd been worried. She'd waded out to find him. To save him.

He was even more surprised when he found out that she couldn't swim. He hadn't ever considered that possibility.

He carried her up and out of the water. She was mad but not angry. There was a difference and he could easily tell. She was mad because she'd been scared. He gave her the pretend wishing rock and watched her pitch it right back in the lake.

At that point, he was pretty sure he didn't want to know what her wish was. And glad that he'd made up the wishing rock bit. He might have woken up tomorrow with frog feet.

Once she'd calmed down, he realized that there was as question he needed to know the answer to. And so he asked her if she loved him. She said she didn't know, didn't even know how to love. He offered to teach her. She nodded gently and then he scooted himself behind her and wrapped a towel around her. Then his arms joined the towel wrapped around her. Finally he just pressed his lips into her hair and tried to will every bit of love and affection that he'd ever experienced into her. He lost track of how long they sat there together, staring out into the sky and the clouds. After a little while, he had to pretend not to notice the hot tears falling slowly onto his arms. When she truly started to sob, he just pulled her closer. He even cried with her a little bit because her pain was so great that it had to be shared. When she had regained control of herself and they finally stood up, he didn't ask her again if she loved him. He knew she wasn't ready to answer that question yet. He also wasn't sure he wanted to hear what she had to say. Not until she had enough time to come to terms with it, good or bad. Until then, nothing she said would be how she really felt.

Later that afternoon, Lonnie found him in his room. She'd noticed that he'd been really quiet since he returned from his date and decided it was time to pry out some answers from her friend. She sat down on the floor next to his bed. "Do I have to..." she started to say gently.

"There was a spell. It's broken now." came Ben's quiet reply.

"And?" asked Lonnie.

"And? And nothing has changed. I still love her. I don't care about the spell." replied Ben.

Lonnie was incensed. "How can you not care? She took away your choice! She made you do things you wouldn't have done on your own. How is that acceptable?"

Ben got defensive. "She's so afraid to love that I understand her doing this. And you don't know everything that happened. I heard her singing about wanting more out of life. She thought I was drowning and tried to save me even though she can't swim. I held her. She cried."

At that last statement, Lonnie had had enough. "The daughter of Maleficent cried? I don't think so. It was an act. She's still playing you! Wake up Ben. This whole idea has been a disaster. She's a fake!"

Ben stood up, he temper come to the fore. "She's not a fake!" he roared at her.

Lonnie just stood there. "That's it. I'm done spying for you. Done helping you. You want to keep up this farce? You're on your own." She walked over to the door and shouted. "And I can scream too!" she said. And then she slammed the door solidly behind her.

Ben went back to his brooding. He'd somehow apologize to Lonnie later. He'd make her understand. She'd get to know Mal all of them could be friends together. It would all work out. So, all he had to worry for tomorrow was Parents Day and that stupid dance that Audrey had made them learn before all of this had started.

He hoped Mal managed to show up late to the festivities. Otherwise she'd be teasing him about it until the day he died.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -This pretty much picks up the evening after Ben and Mal's date. I'm summarizing a lot of what happens at this point by showing it from other people's viewpoints.

Audrey walked up to Ben as he was finishing his dinner in the dining hall. Most of the other students had already left so the place was rather empty.

"Ben, we need to talk." she said in that shrill voice she used when she wanted to get her own way.

Ben finished chewing the bite of roast he'd taken right before she'd arrived. "No. I don't think we do." he replied. "I just got back from a wonderful date with Mal and I really don't want to mess with how happy I am."

"But we need to talk. To clear things up!" pouted Audrey.

"I think everything is pretty clear after yesterday. I'm taking Mal to the coronation and you're going with Chad. I mean, you even kissed him. Like actually kissed him. I can't remember the last time you did that to me."

"I've never kissed you!" shot back Audrey.

"That would probably be why I don't remember it."

"I only kissed him to make you jealous!"

"Well, it didn't work. I love Mal. I really do. And it isn't going to change." Ben replied. He started to gather up his things.

"She's got you enchanted!" Audrey shot at him.

Ben froze. This was this was the second time he'd heard this accusation, but this time he knew it was true. The pain of Lonnie pointing out to him how wrong he'd been still stung. Still, if it became common knowledge, any chance of him making things work out with Mal would be destroyed. The people would never accept it if their King married someone who love spelled him. Granted, they also wouldn't love it if they found out that he'd 'met' her by accidentally seeing her underpants but they didn't need to know that story either. He'd decided that he would tell Mal about it though. Eventually. Mostly because someday she would find out and if he hadn't told her, she'd never forgive him. Still, Ben needed to nip this magic idea in the bud. "I'm not enchanted. I just followed my heart. And it led me to Mal. And I happened to take a swim in 'spell break lake' this afternoon so I'm absolutely sure there's no magic involved." he replied, hoping that would end the conversation.

"But why else would you dump me? I mean, I'm amazing." said Audrey incredulous.

Ben stared at her in shock, the magic accusation forgotten in the pure arrogance that Audrey had just displayed.

"Really?" asked Ben. "Do you seriously want to go there?" He glanced around the dining hall which, while not full, still contained enough people that they both knew. "And in public?" he asked.

Audrey calmed down a bit and motioned for him to sit. "Yes, I want to 'go there'. And I don't want to wait. But we don't have to scream it so that the entire school hears us."

At that unexpectedly reasonable answer, Ben reluctantly sat down. "So, what did you want to talk about exactly?" he asked.

"Why did you break up with me?"

"There are a lot of reasons. Some nice, some, well, not so nice." replied Ben, trying to stay diplomatic.

"What were the not so nice reasons?"

"Well, to put it bluntly, you were." Ben replied. At her look of confusion, Ben continued. "Audrey? You haven't been the nicest person lately. You're not willing to give people a chance, you rub your 'princess' status in everyone's nose, and you order people around. And that bit about 'no one can be pretty but me' yesterday was disgusting. It' not okay."

"But you were still with me when I was doing all of that." Audrey countered. "Why did you change your mind right after the game yesterday? It must have been magic."

Ben thought about the question carefully. Because she was just a little bit right. It had taken magic to get him off the dime and finally ask out Mal. He couldn't really answer the question of how long it would have taken him to have the guts to make the change without that magic cookie. Days? Weeks? How long would he have been trapped by fear of the unknown? Audrey was really staring at him at this point so he'd better come up with a good answer. He thought some more. And had it. He wasn't sure if it would help Audrey or not but it was the truth and that always counted for something.

"Look, Audrey. Instead of answering that directly, I'm going to ask you a few questions. Why were we together in the first place?" he asked.

"Because you're a prince and I'm a princess and..."

"Chad is a prince. And you flipped over to him pretty quickly. So you still have a prince. That answer doesn't work. Try again."

"We were together because I love you." replied Audrey, but she could hear the question in her own words.

Ben tried not to laugh. "No you don't. You don't love me. You love..." his eyes glanced around the room until it fell on a portrait of himself and his parents. He gestured toward it. "You love that." he said.

"No, I..." Audrey tried to say.

"You were with me because you wanted to be queen. Am I wrong?" he asked. She couldn't answer but she didn't say no, so he continued. "It's obvious. I mean, we've been dating a long time and you haven't even really kissed me. And I've been going through the motions too. Does that sound like a couple in love? It was all acting. It was all pretending. None of it was real. I didn't really desire you and you didn't desire me."

"Yes I did. I… I was going to kiss you soon. At least I think I was. Mom taught me to be so proper and it just never felt right."

"Did it feel right when you kissed Chad?" Ben pressed.

"It did. I'll admit that. Maybe I was just too scared or something to kiss you. Because I'd never done it before. But, if you'll dump Mal and come back to me, I'll kiss you. I promise."

"Did you ever dream about kissing me?" prompted Ben.

"No. I… I wasn't raised to think about that." she protested, knowing that if she admitted that she'd never had any such desire, she'd be busted immediately. "But now that I am thinking about it, I'm willing."

Ben perked up. This was an interesting turn to the conversation. "Really? What about Chad?"

"Chad's an idiot. No one with even a little bit of a brain would want to be with him. If he gets mad, I'm sure I can get him to calm down. It'll work out." Audrey's fingers trailed down her dress to the laces holding the bodice together. She started to loosen them a little bit, giving Ben a bit more of a view of her chest. "I'll do anything to get you back Ben."

Ben just stared at her. If she'd ever wanted to really tempt him, well, this was the way. He loved Mal but he was a guy and there were any number of things that he'd dreamed about doing for a long time. To have it handed it to him on a plate was a little bit strange. But he didn't love her. It wouldn't be the same to experience any of that without it being with someone he loved. He realized that the answer was still definitely no.

Audrey took his hesitation as acceptance. "Look, let's go on up to your room. You can think of me as your coronation present, OK? And what do you do with presents?" Her fingers pulled on one of the bows in her bodice. Not completely undone but she pulled it so that one of the loops got very, very small. She batted her eyes at him. "You unwrap them, silly." she said. "And then you play with them."

"Are you offering what I think you're offering?" asked Ben, incredulous. He wasn't interested but it was still shocking to hear her say it.

Audrey nodded without any hint of shame. "I am. Everything. Anything you want. All you have to do is to just shout to the castle 'Mal spelled me!' and we'll head up to your room." She tried to pull him to his feet. When he wouldn't move, she looked at him in confusion. "I'm offering you your dreams here." she said, bending down so her cleavage was clearly in view. "Why don't you reach out and grab them?"

"Sit down Audrey." said Ben clearly but quietly. It was not the voice of a boy, it was the voice of a king. "I'm afraid I have to decline your 'offer'." Audrey looked like she was about to scream but Ben stared her down. "You're not my dream. You never have been. And I'm not yours. Admit it!"

"Look, I..." she just trailed off.

"I'm not your dream. And when you finally figure that out, you're going to be really happy I didn't drag you up to my room and unwrap you. You might be mad at me now. That's understandable. But some day you're going to appreciate this."

Audrey looked at him in shock. "I knew it. She'd got you spelled. There's no way you could resist this if you weren't." She gestured at her body.

Ben looked at her in disgust. "Audrey? You're insane. Or just so full of yourself that it's hard to tell the difference. But understand this. I am your prince. And in a few days, I'll be your King. You're going to let this go and you're not going to say another word about this enchantment garbage to anyone. Not another living soul. Do you hear me? If you do, as soon as this coronation is over, I'll declare that insulting my love and relationship with Mal is qualifies as treason." Ben stood up and looked very deeply into her eyes. There wasn't a shred of kindness in his. "And just so you know, treason can be made retroactive. Cross me and I'll put you in a cell." With that, Ben walked out of the hall.

"Fine." thought Audrey. "I won't say a word about Mal love spelling you. But Grandma is coming to the Parents Day entertainment tomorrow. All I'll need to do is point her at Mal and watch all of the fireworks go off."


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This pretty much picks up the afternoon after the VK's video chat with their parents. I'm summarizing a lot of what happens at this point by showing it from other people's viewpoints.

There was a knock at the door. "Excuse me, Ben? Are you in there?"

Ben looked up from the book he was studying. It wasn't a voice he expected to hear. It was Fairy Godmother's voice. "What on earth did she want?" he wondered. Ben was tempted to pretend he wasn't there but realized that whatever drew Fairy Godmother to come to the door of his dorm room couldn't be good. He walked over and opened the door. "What can I help you with?" he asked. Instead of just answering him, she asked to come in. That was even stranger. "Sure. Sure. Come on in." he said. He pulled an extra chair over to his desk so they could sit down. Before he sat down, he noticed a few bits of loose clothing he'd left on the floor and discreetly kicked them under the bed in case this was some sort of inspection.

"What's up?" he asked, trying to sound as upbeat as possible.

"Well, this is a bit indiscreet of me, but you're going to be King soon and so I figured that even though you're still a student, I should keep you informed about Mal, Jay, Evie, and Carlos's progress. Especially since you sponsored their coming to the school."

"Please do. Have they done anything wrong?" Ben asked, worried. He could just imagine what kind of havoc they'd gotten into today.

"No, they haven't done anything improper. Which I'll admit that, so far, I'm pleasantly surprised about. Their grades have been pretty good and they are starting to adjust this completely different world that we live in."

"That's wonderful to hear." Said Ben, still trying to figure out where all this was going.

"Yes. Well, since tomorrow is Family Day and, of course, their families aren't allowed off of the Isle, I arranged a video chat with their parents. The kids have been making such progress and I figured it would be a nice treat."

"I take it that it didn't go that well?" asked Ben, since he couldn't imagine why she'd have come to see him if it had."

"No. Not really. Could I use your computer?" she asked, gesturing at the desk. He nodded yes and she leaned over and, after putting in her password, brought up a video file. "If this hadn't recorded automatically I might not even have decided to show it to you, but…" She reached over and after fast forwarding over some interaction between herself and the kid's parents, she let it play. There wasn't a lot to see. Just Maleficent pushing Mal on when she would see her again and then petty infighting between the parents before Jay reached out and cut the connection."

"Why are you showing me this?" asked Ben.

"Well, you arranged their coming. What they do, or do not do, reflects on you and your ability to make good decisions. You seem to care deeply about their wellbeing. And I understand that you and Mal are now dating?" Ben nodded and so Fairy Godmother continued. "Since you're getting close to Mal, and, well, I thought maybe you should see a little bit about what her upbringing was like. Ben? Most of the time, children don't grow up that different from their folks. And from what you just saw here, well, I thought you should be aware of how petty they all are."

"Not everyone is the same as their parents. Cinderella grew up very different from her step mother!" Ben said defensively.

"Yes she did." Said Fairy Godmother gently. "But she was, well, is, just like her real mother and father were before they died. Kind. Honorable."

"But her son Chad is…" Ben trailed off, unable to express himself in language that wouldn't get him in trouble with the sweet yet surprising strict administrator.

"A perfectly nice and well behaved boy?" Said Fairy Godmother.

Ben sighed. Chad was a jerk, but the teachers never seemed to realize that. Ben dealt with him because it was part of being prince and eventually King, but he'd never actually liked the guy. "I suppose so, Fairy Godmother."

"Can I count on you to check on them? Maybe cheer them up somehow?" asked Fairy Godmother. "If you wanted to organize something for them, in say, the library this evening, I might even see my way to extend curfew to 11:10?"

Ben tried not to groan. What was it with this woman and time restrictions? Perhaps she'd been beaten with a clock when she was a child. "Sure. I'll come up with something. Thanks for letting me know."

Fairy Godmother let herself out. Ben noticed that she'd forgotten to log off of the computer. He went back and watched the entire video a few more times. The beginning of it was a good laugh, and he'd have to work hard not to ask Fairy Godmother if she'd ever enchanted hamsters during magical history next week. But the second part… Something about it tugged at him. It was kind of strange how her mom was pushing Mal for information on when she would see her again. Even stranger, Mal's reply suggested that they would meet soon after the coronation. But how? So far as he knew, there wasn't anything planned.

Ben sat back in his chair and stared at the ceiling. Was Mal not happy here? Was she planning on leaving? He thought that they'd found a real connection out there on their picnic but, well, maybe he was wrong. No, he wasn't wrong. If she was thinking about leaving, it wasn't because she wanted to. Ben was absolutely sure that no one who had cried like Mal had after the date could be faking those emotions. He had almost physically felt her pain as she'd sobbed in his arms.

He played the video back one more time and this time, he heard Maleficent's slip of the tongue. "Magic wa… Little Nugget." He snorted. That was a pretty pathetic save for the former villain. Magic wand." he said aloud. "What wand is she even talking about? Is it Fairy Godmother's wand? If it is, why would she even want it? It's good. She's evil. It would be useless, right?" Ben realized he was talking to empty air but it was helping him think. And the more Ben thought about it, the more afraid he was of what Maleficent would do with that wand. "But how would she get her hands on it? She can't get off the Isle. Someone would have to take it to her…."

Ben ran the last few days back in his mind. Mal and the others had asked a lot of about wands since they'd arrived. And he remembered hearing from his dad that there had been a false alarm at the museum where Fairy Godmother's wand was stored when it wasn't needed. He'd been joking about it, wondering why anyone would want any of the junk stored in that museum. Mal, Jay, Evie, and Carlos must have tried to break in and get it that first night. He remembered them being tired on their first day of classes.

His mind flashed back to his argument with Lonnie and her accusations of Mal. Was Lonnie right? Was this Mal's reason for casting the love spell on him? It didn't make sense. The kids were all different now. Jay had a team to be a part of. Evie had realized that it didn't suck to be smart. Carlos had Dude and had even told off his mother when she claimed Dude would make wonderful ear muffs. Carlos, who started this whole adventure terrified of dogs and his mother had conquered both fears. It was nothing short of amazing.

None of them actually wanted to go back so why would they follow any plan their parents had given them? And Mal… Mal especially…. He believed in her. She didn't want to be back under her mother's thumb. She didn't want to rule the world. Ben knew that in his heart and that's what would win through in the end. So she wouldn't do this. They wouldn't do this. They might think about doing it. They might even try to do it. But their hearts wouldn't be in it. If he gave them the chance to choose good….

He decided that must be why Maleficent and the other parents had let them come in the first place. They'd taken his bait about disrupting the coronation a step farther. They wanted to ruin it completely and possibly escape from the island in the process. His plan had worked a little too well. They didn't just want to ruin the coronation, they wanted to ruin the world. Well, it wasn't going to work. Ben sent of a couple of quick e-mails to the drivers of the limos. They were to remove the device that gave access to the Isle. That was his fail safe. Without those, the wand would never reach Maleficent. He trusted the kids, but, well, he was about to be King and that made him responsible to the realm. Maybe if everything went wrong, this would give the kids one last chance to change their minds when they realized they can't get the wand back to the Isle.

The safety of the kingdom assured, Ben relaxed a bit and thought about the situation in a calmer light. It was interesting that Mal had chosen a love spell to get her close to the wand at the coronation. Ben imagined there were lots of other ways in that book of hers to get what she wanted. Easier ways. Ways that didn't involve dating him. And ways that didn't set off a four alarm fire of suspicion. So why did she choose the love spell? There had to be a reason. It had been before they'd really gotten to know each other. Before she'd shown him the pain she was hiding… It was before he'd told her that he loved her…

Had she felt the same spark he had when they had shaken hands for the first time. Had it been love at first sight? Had each of them seen past the other's beastly nature? He hoped so. He hoped that there was a real chance for them to be together forever.

Family Day needed to go perfectly though. He intended to invite Mal and her friends to have lunch with his parents. He wanted them to feel welcome and part of the Auradon world. He considered going to visit his folks and giving them a heads up on his plans. Then he decided not to bother. They trusted him. They'd be fine with whatever he chose.

Later that night, Lonnie was again walking through the school unable to sleep. As she wandered past the kitchen, she heard the sound of a mixing bowl clanging against a table.

"Great." She thought. "Looks like Mal's cooking again. Let's see what it is this time." She walked over to the door and peered in through the window. Seeing Mal pulling pans off of shelves and the spellbook sitting on the counter, she was about to burst in when she heard a sniffle. She froze and pushed herself back into the shadows to watch.

It was Mal. And she had the shining eyes and dead look of someone who is desperately trying to hold back tears. It didn't make sense. Why would she be upset? Maybe Lonnie was wrong. Maybe Mal was just sick or something. Her plan, whatever it happened to be, was going perfectly. Love spell or no love spell, she had Ben wrapped around her finger. There wasn't any reason to be upset. Disgusted at the whole situation, she turned to go when she had a thought. "Wait, was that it?" Lonnie thought. "Had Mal figured out the spell was broken and was working on a replacement?"

Lonnie might thing Ben was being an idiot about all of this but he was still her friend. She had to protect him if she could. So, Lonnie watched some more. It was different than the last time she'd seen Mal baking. For one thing, Mal was all on her own. Her friends were nowhere to be seen. And for another, it appeared she was making cupcakes instead of cookies. That surprised Lonnie a bit but then she figured whatever the magic was, you could probably put it in any baked good. She couldn't imagine it would matter if it was in a tart or a corn muffin.

Lonnie had to pull back for a minute when she was overcome with giggling at the idea of love spell tarts. Or maybe lust spell tarts. Talk about truth in advertising… "Oh my goodness…" she thought. "What would happen if I tricked Audrey into eating a lust spell tart? I mean, I wouldn't really do it, but…." That fit of giggling took several minutes to overcome.

When she returned to the door, Mal had walked to the back to check on the oven. This was Lonnie's chance to sneak in and see which spell Mal was making this time. "Maybe I could even mess it up." She thought. She darted in and quickly read the page in the spell book. "How to break a love spell." Wondered Lonnie. "Why on earth would she be doing that? She's winning…"

Lonnie heard the sound of the footsteps and, panicking, ducked beneath the counter. It was a stupid place to hide. She could kind of see through a crack between tables but otherwise she was stuck. She ended up hiding there until Mal finished the cupcake and left. It was a long wait it was worth every moment.

She heard every word that Mal sang.

She saw Mal's tear fall into the batter.

When the coast was finally clear, Lonnie pulled herself out of her hiding spot and wandered back into the school. She couldn't believe what she'd seen. She didn't want to believe what she'd seen. She considered going to talk to Ben but didn't think he'd even talk to her right now. And she wasn't sure what it all actually meant. "Why was Mal crying? Why was she leaving?" The truth stared Lonnie in the face and but she couldn't face it. She wasn't ready to believe that Mal, the girl who had taken away free will from her best friend was… sorry? That couldn't be it. Somehow, Lonnie couldn't accept the fact that someone could give in to such a moment of weakness. She never had…

Grumbling, she wandered back to her room. She was more confused than ever but she needed some sleep. Family Day was tomorrow and she had to sing and dance and pretend that everything was alright with the world.

It wasn't going to be easy.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -This is the evening after Family Day.

Ben surveyed the damage he'd done to his room. It was… impressive. Clothes, furniture, and belongings were scattered everywhere. He didn't lose his temper often but he was his he father's son. That potential for rage lived inside him and he'd found over time that every once in a while, he had to let it loose. He sighed. Then he smiled ruefully. He did feel a little bit better. Nothing had changed but maybe now he could think clearly.

Family Day had sucked. He would have rather used a nicer word to describe it but he couldn't and still be honest with himself. And that's what he was trying to be right now. Honest. Honest about whether people would ever forgive Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos. Honest about whether or not society would every give them a chance to choose good and instead force them onto an evil path. Honest about what might happen tomorrow during the coronation. Honest about a relationship with someone who had briefly taken away his free will with a love spell.

Now that he thought about it, he had to say that honesty sucked as well.

It made you face things you'd rather avoid and admit your mistakes. He didn't want to admit that some of the people he'd thought of as friends had let him down when he had needed them the most. Lonnie or Doug could have stood up for Mal or Evie when they were verbally attacked. That would have made big difference. It would have helped people understand that giving the children of villains a chance to learn about good wasn't just one person's crazy idea. His crazy idea. But neither one of them had shown the backbone that he'd believed they had. But he wasn't angry at them. They had their doubts too and it isn't easy to stand up when everyone else is sitting down... He was just disappointed.

He also didn't want to admit that Mal and her friends might destroy the coronation tomorrow. But at this point he really didn't know what they would do. Especially after today. He'd tried to create a welcoming world for her and for all of her friends. And he'd gotten his dream too, a girl who challenged him in every way. Someone who wasn't some sort of prissy good girl but who knew how to have fun and was full of life. Someone he was DYING to kiss. And it had all been working so perfectly. All of them had found a way to fit in and the Family Day festivities were supposed to make them feel even more like they had a new home here. A new family. But it hadn't. Family Day had basically rubbed salt in the wounds of Mal and the others. Instead of uniting everyone, it had reminded all of them that they were different and that the Auradon world would always think of them as villains first. Even worse, it had happened after the video chat from their parents yesterday had crushed their spirits.

He knew he loved Mal. And he knew Mal would love him once she had time to figure out what love was. Ultimately, the problem was time. People needed time to adjust to change, both the kids from the Isle and the rest of Auradon. Mal needed time to learn to trust these new emotions. Ben figured that was ultimately what was pushing

His dad had said that it was all his fault. And his dad wasn't wrong. That's what had caused Ben to scatter the contents of his room with great abandon. But he'd created this mess, both literally and figuratively. And it was time to start cleaning it up.

He'd just grabbed the first couple of pillows when he mother briefly knocked on the door and then came right on in. He'd asked her several times to wait for him to say okay before she came in but according to her, birthing someone and diapering them gave you permission to enter their room whenever you wanted. Even when they were sixteen years old.

If things eventually worked out with Mal he was going to need a lock. The naughty grin that spread wide on his face as he thought about all thing things they could do behind that locked door caught his mother's attention.

"You seem to have recovered from your little fit." She said. "And I'm willing to make a bet on what made you smile even after that disaster of an afternoon. It's Mal, isn't it?"

Ben looked away, his happy dreams scattering like shattered pieces from a vase. "You wouldn't understand." He said.

His mother laughed at him. She laughed at him so hard he had to find a non-broken chair in all of the mess for her to sit down on. Finally, when she'd gotten ahold of herself, she looked at him again. "Were you not paying attention when I told you stories about how your dad and I met? Silly dear. I wrote the book… or maybe I should say I 'read' the book, on falling in love with someone the world sees as a monster."

"I didn't say I fell in love with her." Ben countered. He had fallen in love but he wasn't really in the mood to discuss it with his mother.

His mother apparently didn't care what he was in the mood to discuss. "You didn't have to say it. It was obvious when I saw you with her. Somehow knowing you were with her and seeing it in person was harder than I expected. I reacted badly. I'm sorry and I'll apologize to Mal if I'm lucky enough to get another chance. Look Ben. Today didn't go well but it could have been worse. When the world saw the 'beast' I was in love with, they tried to kill him." Belle smiled at her son. "But we've both figured out that what the world sees as a beast can be beautiful inside. You see something in Mal. You realized it the first time you saw her on the Isle."

"I didn't see her on the Isle…" Ben tried to protest.

"Please. I'm your mother. I know everything. Did you have fun on your private date by the lake?" Ben's face went white and Belle took pity on her son. "It's okay, I won't force you to answer that. Look. Tomorrow you're becoming a King. That's fancy and all but to really be a King, you have to be a man. And to be a man, you need to learn two things."

"And those are?" Ben dutifully asked.

Belle smiled at him and headed for the door. "The first is to stand up for what you believe in." She reached the door and started to leave.

"What's the second one?" asked Ben.

Belle looked back and him with mirth twinkling in her eyes. "Oops. I wasn't going to tell you this one. Audrey never visited your room so it didn't matter. I suspect that will be very different with Mal. So, here you go. The second thing is to remember to clear your browser history, sweetums." She rolled her eyes and then muttered under her breath just loud enough for Ben to hear. "I never thought my son would be that obsessed with underwear." Her eyes narrowed. "You do realize that it's what's 'under' the underwear that matters?"

Ben just stared at her.

"Well, I hope you figure it out eventually or I'll never get grandchildren." She walked out the door while Ben's face went bright red.

By the time Ben finished cleaning up his room, most of the embarrassment had faded. Most, but not all. He wasn't sure how he was going to face her tomorrow at the coronation with a straight face. But maybe that had been her point. Extreme embarrassment might help him not to be so nervous.

There was another knock at his door. Just like his mother had, Lonnie came on in without waiting for an acknowledgement.

"That's it. I'm getting a lock." He said out loud, sounding a little frustrated.

Lonnie stopped. "I could leave if you wanted…"

"No, it's okay. My mother just embarrassed the heck out of me and I'm still trying to recover." He looked at her in surprise. "Wait a minute. I thought you were still mad at me."

"I am… Or maybe I was… I don't actually know at this point. Are you mad at me?" Lonnie was kind of babbling at this point.

Ben flopped down on the bed. "I guess not. But I don't want to talk about all your 'Mal is evil' theories, all right? I'm not in the mood."

Lonnie blanched. "Actually, that's exactly what I need to talk about." Ben turned away. "Look, hear me out. You trust me or at least you used to. I found out something new."

That last part caught Ben's attention. "I'll listen." He said grudgingly.

"I was wandering the school again last night and heard something in the kitchen…"

Ben rolled his eyes. "I don't…"

Lonnie interrupted him. "You said you'd listen. So do so." She waited for his acknowledgement before she continued. "Mal was in the kitchen. She was baking again."

"More cookies?" asked Ben.

"Cupcake this time, actually."

Ben thought about it. "Great. Now I'm hungry. So, what's your point? Do you think that she is going to redo the love spell? I've already told you that it wouldn't matter if she did. I love her with or without a spell."

"It might matter more than you think. Ben, I saw her spell book, Ben. She was working on a different spell this time…."

Ben interrupted her. "I don't think I want to know."

Lonnie looked at him sharply. "Yes you do. You need to know. Quit being a jerk about this, shut up and let me tell you what I saw!" Lonnie took a deep breath before she continued. "That cupcake is designed to break your love spell. And while she was making it, she was singing about leaving and letting you go. And crying… Ben, I thought she didn't know how to cry but she sounded like her heart was breaking."

Ben was flabbergasted. "And that all means?" he asked.

"It means that I was wrong and you were right. She loves you, you stupid oaf. She's leaving. I don't know why, but she is. Well, I don't know why she wanted to leave yesterday but after today, I don't know that I'd blame her for wanting to leave. We all treated her horribly. Well, not you, but everyone else. But instead of leaving you love spelled, or at least, thinking you're love spelled, she is going to make sure you can go on without her after she leaves. You don't do that for someone unless you love them and there is true good in your heart."

"You knew this earlier. Why are you only telling me now?"

"Because I realized I was being a hypocrite. Did you hear how Mal switched Jane's hair back to the way it was before this all started?"

"And I heard that she was being really mean to Mal and she deserved what she got."

"Yes she did. Anyway…" Lonnie sounded embarrassed. "Do you know what I did as soon as Jane went back to helmet hair?" Ben shook his head no. "I… I checked mine. I mean, how shallow is that? Here there were people treating Mal like garbage and not only was I not defending the girlfriend of my best friend, I was worried about whether I'd lost my magic hairdo. Ben, I'm sorry. I should have said something, both during the beginning of Family Day and when we were all over at the picnic tables. I judged Mal badly and even when fate decided to show me that I was wrong, I was too stubborn to admit it. I'm here to apologize to you and if we can manage to keep Mal from leaving, I'll apologize to her too."

"We?" asked Ben.

"Yes. We. I'm back on team 'Get Ben the girl of his dreams.' Of course, I'm not sure if those are love dreams or lust dreams at this point…"

"Lonnie!" protested Ben.

"I couldn't resist." laughed Lonnie. "Besides, you're going to need your sense of humor to make it through tomorrow. Hey, I thought she was happy with you. And she made that new cupcake before today's fiasco. Do you have any idea why?"

"I think so. Fairy Godmother gave them a 'treat' yesterday. They got to talk with their parents and I got to see the video after. Their folks are pressuring them to get their hands on Fairy Godmother's wand."

"I have a feeling you should have replaced 'pressuring' in that last statement with 'threatening doom and destruction.'" Lonnie interjected.

"They're scared, Lonnie. And if you had parents like that, you'd be scared too. People make bad decisions when they're scared. You know that, Lonnie. My dad made a couple of decisions like that which almost lost him my mom."

"So what have you done about it so far?" asked Lonnie.

"I've made sure that even if the four of them grab the wand, they can't get back to the Isle. Beyond that, I'm not sure what I can do. I'll try to build Mal up as much as possible tomorrow but ultimately, they are all going to have to decide who they want to be."

Lonnie looked at Ben. "Tomorrow, I want you to give Mal that magic ring I had you get from your parents."

"Why? What will it do?" asked Ben.

"It'll help her make the right decision." Answered Lonnie, evasively.

"She needs to make the decision on her own. This isn't like my proposing to her where I wanted to do and magic just gave me a kick in the pants. For this to matter, it needs to be her choice. It needs to be all of their choices."

"Don't worry. She'll still do that. The ring will just help."

"I thought you had a problem with taking away free will." Protested Ben.

"I do. And the ring won't make her do anything she doesn't want to do. It will just help her find the courage inside."

"You're sure?" asked Ben doubtfully.

"Absolutely sure. At least offer her the ring. If she won't wear it, that's okay. The magic will still work. Please just trust me on this. If I tell you too much, it might ruin the magic."

"All right. I'll do it."

Lonnie looked at him. "Are you ready for tomorrow?"

Ben laughed. "I think the real question is whether tomorrow is ready for us?" Then his stomach growled.

"I heard that." Said Lonnie. "Time to feed the beast. All the talk about magic cupcakes made me hungry too so let's go down and grab a snack."

"Good idea." Said Ben. "I'll meet you down there."

Lonnie headed out the door and Ben waited until she was clear. Then he quickly stepped over to his computer and tapped a few keys. A little box that said 'delete browser history' popped up. And with a guilty glance behind him, Ben clicked 'yes'.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've reached the end of the film and now all things are possible…. Well until the sequel decides to rearrange things…  
> -and now back to my story…Picking up from after the final dance number.

After the fireworks ended and the dancing died down, Lonnie suggested to Ben and Mal that they all head up to Ben's room for a little bit of quiet. Lonnie figured that Ben and Mal might actually want some time to themselves but neither one of them was likely to get that ball rolling. Her offer earned her a slight glare from Ben but one of relief from Mal. She ignored it because she had his best interests at heart. "Everything will work out, dude." She thought. "Just need to tie up some loose ends to make sure life doesn't try to unravel." Mal was clearly still a little nervous about all this love stuff and she might not be comfortable being alone with Ben in his room quite yet. Lonnie figured she could help Mal get past that. She'd provide company and a chaperone as long as it made Mal feel better. And once Mal finally felt comfortable, Lonnie would plead exhaustion and excuse herself.

Mal had stopped to use the restroom on the way which gave Ben and Lonnie an opportunity to visit while they waited for her to catch up. Ben was feeling just a little bit full of himself and without thinking about it, he started boasting. He didn't notice that Mal was already coming down the hallway.

"I gave her the ring just like you asked. But I only did it so she'd know how much I loved her. Not because I thought she'd need its help. The magical courage ability was irrelevant. She didn't need it to make the right decision. Admit it, you were wrong."

"I'll admit no such thing." Said Lonnie, amused. "I think the ring made all the difference in the world."

Mal pulled herself into the shadows. Then she looked down at Ben's signet ring on her hand. "Was it true?" she thought. "Was this how I finally found the courage to stand up to my mother?" She stared at the ring on her finger. She kept listening, hoping that they wouldn't see her and she'd find out everything. It was nice that Ben truly had faith in her and she was still happy at how things had turned out. But, well, it hurt to think that she hadn't done it completely on her own. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more that doubt began to grow in her gut. "Maybe I'm not that good after all." She thought quietly.

"So how did it help?" asked Ben. "Maleficent even spun it off of her hand before the big confrontation. I mean, if she wasn't wearing it, then how would it have made a difference?"

He was interrupted by Lonnie's laughter. "She didn't need to wear it for it to work, silly. You giving it to her was enough." Lonnie happened to glance down the hallway and saw Mal lurking in the shadows. The fact that she'd heard everything they'd been saying was painfully obvious. "I'm sorry Mal. That must have sounded like we didn't trust you. Actually, we trusted you completely."

Mal walked toward them slowly, twisting the ring on her hand. It was so special to her but if it was somehow influencing her, then she wanted to get rid of it. "So why the ring?" she said, holding up her hand.

Ben broke in, obviously upset at how all of this was turning out. "Lonnie just pushed at me to do it, and, well, I'm sorry that I gave in. But like I said, when the real moment came, you didn't need it at all."

Lonnie looked up and sighed. "Look, you two. Time for me to fess up. I lied. The ring isn't magic. I just made it up to convince Ben to give it to you. And even that idea almost backfired because he wanted you to make these decisions on your own. Which is what happened."

"Then what was the point of the ring?" Mal asked.

"When Ben started this whole crazy adventure, I figured that someone who grew up in such a terrible place might need a little physical reminder that they were loved. That's why I wanted Ben to give it to you. Nothing more. Nothing less."

"So no magic? You promise?" asked Mal.

Lonnie grinned. "Only if you count love as magic. Which sometimes I do."

The powerful fist clenched around Mal's heart eased. She really had done it all on her own. Or, at least, as on her own as she ever wanted to be. "Then thank you for thinking of it. Today wasn't easy. Having that ring on my finger helped. Especially knowing that Ben still put it on me after he'd eaten the cupcake and told me he knew about the spell. So I guess you were right after all. That ring was magical. Just not in the way that my mother would define magic." She walked over and gave Lonnie a little hug.

Since they were all together now, they walked in to Ben's room. Ben and Lonnie found chairs. Mal, with a wicked little gleam in her eye, decided to sit on Ben's lap. Lonnie glanced at Mal and laughed. Mal didn't look like she planned to be leaving that lap anytime soon. Ben's arm were loosely wrapped around his violet haired vixen. They weren't so much possessive as a physical reminder to the both of them that they were together. Lonnie thought about the others. Evie was out walking with Doug and even though the two of them had been gone for an awful long time, no one was worried. Jay and Carlos were entertaining Jane. Both of them felt the girl deserved a good time after all of the trouble that Mal had put her through and because it was still likely that Fairy Godmother was going to ground her for a month.

Lonnie smiled. Her plan was already going well. That ring talk had broken some of the tension between them even if she'd never intended Mal to know about her little trick. It wasn't all gone yet though and Lonnie knew she still had some work to do.

They sat and talked together. First about nothing at all, and then eventually about how they'd all gotten to where they were now. Mal began to detail out the original plan to steal the wand and her friends were fascinated at what had almost happened.

After a few minutes, Mal was already wrapping up her story. "And that was pretty much it. We were scared of our parents and scared of trying to fit into this world of goodness. That's why we did all of it. But I'm so glad I made the choice I did." She wiggled a bit on Ben's lap and then giggled at his reaction. Then Mal sighed. "Still, this place is so amazingly different how we grew up. I'm surprised we managed to make the right choice." Mal decided it was time to change the subject. "So, Ben fessed up a little bit in the carriage that he knew about the love spell and the anti-love spell. What else did you all know?" she asked.

Ben took a moment to squeeze her before explaining. "We had hints of your plans. Not everything, but little bits. I hope it doesn't bother you to know this but Lonnie here was my spy. And I'm the one who gave her that horrid haircut that she paid you to fix she that she could get to know you."

Mal's mouth dropped open. Then she looked back and forth between Ben and Lonnie. "Seriously? You let him cut your hair? Just to find out about me? You are a good friend."

Lonnie nodded. "What can I say, the guy can be pretty persuasive. And I'm really glad I did because it gave me an excuse to really get to know you. Which has absolutely been my pleasure."

"What if I'd refused to do it?" asked Mal.

"Then I told Ben he was going to steal that spell book away from you and fix it himself." Laughed Lonnie.

Mal looked back at her boyfriend/chair. "You? Do magic? No chance of that."

Ben ignored the jibe and took over the story. "As to the wand stuff, well, Lonnie kind of lucked into that. She had insomnia one night and, as you mentioned, inadvertently provided you the tear you needed for that love spell. She did tell me about seeing you guys in the kitchen that night but, honestly, neither one of us thought a whole lot about it."

"I just figured you were homesick." Said Lonnie.

Mal thought about it. "I don't think that 'homesick' will ever describe how I feel about the Isle. If I'm missing or regretting anything, it's what could have been. Our parents could have loved us. They might have given us the chance for our own happy ending. But they chose not to."

Ben went back to the story. "Anyway, once I'd asked you out all Auradon Idol style, Lonnie figured that I had to be enchanted. I'm not typically that, umm, demonstrative and she wanted a reason for it. She knew that I'd been trying to work up the courage to dump Audrey and ask you out for days and well, practically doing it with a parade was not in character for me. Lonnie said there had to be a love spell to make me act that wacky. I insisted that I didn't feel any different than I had before so there wasn't any spell. To settle the argument, she agreed to help put together that lovely picnic date. The price was that I had to take a dip in the lake to break any possible enchantments."

Lonnie interjected. "And that's where we ran into an impasse. Because both of us were right and neither one was really listening to the other. There had been a spell but he'd already loved you so it hadn't exactly mattered. And, well, I didn't take it well."

"You were just worried about me." Ben said, trying to defend her.

Lonnie looked at Mal sheepishly. "Ben's being kind but I have to admit the truth. I was being a wench. I was seriously ticked off because I thought that you had taken away free will from my buddy here and that just wasn't okay. But in the end, all it turned out doing was to give him a kick in the pants. He loved you before and after that cookie. Mal, I'm sorry. I judged you horribly. I especially feel bad now knowing all of the pressure that you were under from your parents. You were trying to find the least destructive path through a minefield."

Mal's eyes fell a little. "Hey, you're a good friend to worry about him that way. And Lonnie? You weren't really wrong, at least not then. I did have nefarious designs on this boy that I'm sitting on. Not the same type of plans I have now, but…" Mal looked back at Ben and batted her eyelashes at him. "Well, I didn't expect all of this to work out so well because I didn't know that falling in love with this goof was even possible." Mal smacked Ben's shoulder in jest but somehow it seemed false to Lonnie. "We meant to steal that wand. We had everything planned. But when the time came, I just couldn't do it. I couldn't be the person my mother wanted me to be."

Lonnie nodded, happy to see Mal starting to relax but knowing that there was still something bothering her. "The best part is that everyone got to see you make the right choice. That should silence most of the doubters."

Mal didn't look convinced. "Most of them but not all. There will always be those people that I'm not good enough for."

Lonnie just barely caught Mal glance at Ben when she said that. She remembered Audrey saying that Mal was just a bad girl obsession for Ben and Jane saying he'd never marry the child of a villain. "So that's your problem." She thought. "You don't think you're worthy of Mr. Perfect here."

Lonnie decided to go on with the story before Mal or Ben caught her mood. She had some meddling to do and it was always harder to accomplish when people knew what you were going. "Anyway, I also saw your second baking experiment and that's when I figured out that you had a good heart."

Mal's face went pale. She looked at Lonnie. "Exactly how much of that did you see?"

Lonnie smiled encouragingly. "I'm sorry if it embarrasses you, but the truth is, I saw every single moment. I saw you making the cupcake; I saw you singing; I even saw your tears."

Mal buried her face in Ben's shoulder. "I can't believe you saw me cry."

"It's okay. I understood how you felt and my eyes weren't dry either. My heart was breaking along with yours. Since I'd managed to see the spell book before I hid, I knew what the cupcake was going to do. That's when I started to realize I'd been an idiot in not trusting you to do the right thing. It still took an extra day to sink in though. Maybe if I'd gone to Ben with the info sooner, things would have been easier for you. After Parent's Day, I finally found some courage and told Ben all about it. Then I apologized to him for doubting you. I owe you an apology too. He'd believed in you the entire time."

Mal looked at Ben in shock. "You believed in me? The whole time?"

Ben nodded. "I did. And I was delighted when Lonnie pointed out a very interesting idea. In that spell book of yours, I'm guessing that you have all kinds of different ways to control what someone does, right?" Mal nodded, not sure where this was going. "I also expect that those other methods would have been easier or safer. There would have been less of a chance that I, for example, would tell you I loved you in a huge crowd over a golden microphone. Correct?" Mal nodded again, blushing at the memory. "So, if there were so many easier ways to get what you wanted, why on earth did you choose to use a love spell on me?" Ben asked, looking right into Mal's eyes. They widened as she realized what he was saying. "Maybe because you wanted me the entire time…" he teased.

Ben had thought Mal had been blushing before. Now her face went beet red. She buried her face in his shoulder again so she didn't have to look at either of them. A strange muffling sound came out of his shoulder that might have been Mal saying the word 'maybe'.

"Busted…" taunted Lonnie gently in a singing voice.

"Shut up." Came Mal's muffled voice through Ben's shirt. She was trying to sound forceful but everyone knew her heart just wasn't in it. Finally she started laughing along with them. The laughter helped to break the tension and eventually Mal managed to stop hiding in Ben's shoulder. She twisted the ring that she got from Ben on her finger again. "Ben, don't get me wrong. I love wearing your ring. But it feels so strange to have this thing on. Wonderful, definitely. But still strange."

Lonnie thought a moment. "Do you have anything that Ben could wear? To kind of even things up?"

Mal thought for a minute, then tugged the ring off of her thumb. She tried it on Ben's pointer finger and then his ring finger. No luck. Then she tried it on his pinky. It fit. She looked at it on his hand. She liked the sentiment of each of them wearing something from the other a lot. But it was a little feminine. She looked up and smiled at him. "Wear that for now. I'll replace it later with something more appropriate." She leaned back into his arms and thought about other rings that they might wear one day. Wedding rings…. She couldn't even believe the thought. A week ago the idea of even having a boyfriend was absurd. Now the idea of having something more made her heart glow like a tiny sun. Then her heart fell yet again, like it was stuck on a roller coaster. She'd never be good enough for him.

Lonnie caught the look. It was time to face that little fear directly. Mal needed to know that Ben hadn't exactly been an innocent in this plot. It might cause them trouble right now but if Mal never thought she deserved Ben, their relationship couldn't grow. Lonnie was trying to settle on a way to help her when Mal asked the question that she and Ben had been afraid of.

"I was curious Ben. Why did you choose my friends and I to come over from the Isle anyway?" said Mal.

Ben and Lonnie looked at each other. Finally Lonnie said. "Well, we're going to have to tell her eventually. Maybe this is the time?"

Ben just looked a boy who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "I…" was all he said.

Mal stood up and looked back and forth between the two of them. "What's going on? What exactly do you need to tell me?"

Ben took a deep breath. It was time to pay the piper. He just hoped that Mal would understand that he'd changed from when he'd first gotten a peek at her posterior. He was just as attracted to her as he had been then but he'd also learned a lot about truly loving someone. So, He stood up and squared his shoulders. Well, it all started with…

Lonnie suddenly moved between them and interrupted him. "Come take a walk with me." She said. It wasn't exactly a request.

Mal looked her dead in the face. "Why?" was all she said.

"Because you're less likely to kill me than you are to kill Ben." Said Lonnie calmly.

"And why exactly will I be killing Ben soon?" Asked Mal with a note of anger in her voice.

Lonnie noticed that the only question in that statement was 'why should would kill him', not 'if she would kill him'. It was time to head that off now. "I'll tell you as soon as you go on a walk with me." Replied Lonnie. "Please."

The moment just hung in the air between them. "Fine." Said Mal finally. She looked over at Ben. "And don't you date go anywhere because I expect that you and I are going to be having a VERY extensive conversation after this." She swept out of the room, obviously expecting Lonnie to follow her.

"Are you sure I shouldn't tell her? I mean, I did start all off this."

"I think she'll take it better from me. But assuming that she gets over it all, you won't ever have to worry about it again. I'm not holding back any secrets." Then she followed Mal out of the room leaving Ben to just sit and worry.

-this got kind of long so it got split into two chapters. Next one is going up right after this.


	15. Chapter 15

Once they were far enough away that Ben couldn't hear, Lonnie looked over at Mal. "I'm going to tell you how this all started. And I promise that by 'all' I really mean 'all'. But I'm going to do it in my own way because I think you'll understand it better. Does that work?"

"As long as you get to everything, I can live with that. It remains to be seen if Ben can live with it…."

"Enough of that." Said Lonnie. She pointed at Mal's heart. "Let's start here. It's not just the doubters in the world that are standing between you and Ben, is it? The doubt is in there too. Correct?"

"Of course it is." Replied Mal. "I'm the proverbial girl from the bad side of town. Or bad side of the Isle, I guess. And I want to know why anyone would pick me for anything. "

Lonnie grimaced. "Audrey and Jane really did a number on your confidence, didn't they?"

Mal nodded reluctantly. "Whatever all of this is, I do know he loves me. And, well, I'm kind of afraid of the words but I love him too. I'm not sure if it's going to be enough though. He's good boy Ben and I'm bad girl Mal. We're kind of doomed."

They had to stop for a few minutes while Lonnie tried and failed to avoid laughing hysterically at the phrase 'good boy Ben'. When Lonnie finally managed to breathe again she patted Mal on the back. "Okay. Important piece of information number one. Ben isn't the angel that your mind had make him out to be. He's a good guy, but he is still a guy. And that's pretty much how this all started."

Lonnie explained about Ben's relationship with Audrey and how, as they'd grown up, 'Good girls don't do that' seemed to become part and parcel of their communications. Lonnie explained it wasn't so much about Ben wanting someone naughty as wanting someone who matched him. Someone who challenged him. And, ultimately, Ben wanted to be with someone who actually wanted to be with him. "Not that Ben would mind a little naughtiness, but he certainly has no desire to push someone who doesn't want it past their limits. So, with what I've told you so far, can you see yourself with Ben? I mean really with hm. "

Mal actually blushed, which was a good sign that she wasn't as upset as she pretended to be. "Assuming he isn't dead, then yes, I think I can. You still haven't explained why he chose my friends and I though."

Lonnie looked upward and prayed for a moment. This was the part where she hoped Mal would have at least a little bit of a sense of humor. Then she looked back at Mal and told her everything. She told her about the fateful day when Ben saw her for the first time. Then she told Mal about him watching spell practice.

Mal suddenly moved her hands to cover her bottom. "You mean he was watching the day that my pants ripped?"

Lonnie nodded. "It made quite an impression on him. Even worse, he had been chanting silly spells along with you. As chance would have it, he said had just finished one about your bottom stitches ripping right before it happened. He was, to put it mildly, dumbfounded."

"You mean he can do magic? And he used it to…" Mal trailed off.

"No. Definitely not. It was just a funny coincidence." Mal didn't look convinced so Lonnie continued. "Look, did any other clothes fall off at that point?" Mal shook her head. "Then he doesn't really have magic. Because trust me, ANY guy, no matter how good he was, would have tried at least one more spell. And then your clothes would have been flying all over the place."

Mal thought about it. "Okay, I can't argue with you on that one. So let me make sure I have this straight. The real reason that Ben picked me to come off the island was that he liked my butt?" Mal couldn't believe what she was saying.

Lonnie mulled it over. "Not exactly. I firmly believe that he fell in love the first time he saw you. Your face, I mean. Not your butt. However, your bottom certainly contributed to his enthusiasm, if you take my meaning? Mal, he watched you for a long time before he made his decision. He liked what he saw inside and out. He loves you."

"You're sure?" asked Mal. There was a lot of vulnerability in that question.

"Very sure." Replied Lonnie.

So, why tell me all of this? Why not keep it all a secret? I mean, sure, I asked but you didn't have to answer. I'd never have known."

"Two reasons. One, someday you would have found out and you might not have taken it as well if you'd been lied to for such a long time. Two, so that you know that you really can be with him. He's not some perfect angel. He's a teenage boy. He's human. You're worthy of him and he's worthy of you. This may have started as a silly lark. It may have been lust at first sight but I think it was love too. Especially now. No one goes to this much trouble for someone if they don't love them..."

Mal thought about it. Her 'perfect angel Ben' wasn't a perfect angel at all. She tried to be upset. I mean, this boy had spent a decent amount of time staring at her butt. She should be outraged. But as she thought about it, she had to admit that she wasn't exactly innocent in that department. She had checked out his abs a bit when he'd come out of the water. His butt in that Tourney uniform looked pretty darn good. And maybe she'd even checked out the fit of his swim trunks after he'd come out of the water. And so she made a couple of decisions. She was going to have some fun with this boy. And, well, the next time he saw underwear it was definitely going to be a cuter pair than she'd been wearing all that time ago. She looked down at her dress and then she smiled at Lonnie. "That helped. Thank you."

"I'm glad. Well, are you still going to kill him?"

"Nope. Too messy." Her grin turned evil. "I do think that I have a naughty boy to go take care of though."

Lonnie thought about it, then whispered in Mal's ear. If anything, Mal's grin got even naughtier. Then Lonnie headed off down the corridor. "Have fun!" laughed Lonnie as she headed off toward her own room.

Mal willed the blush in her cheeks to go away and then marched back to Ben's room. On the way, she pulled her spell book out of her purse, flipped a few pages until she found what she wanted, memorized it, and put the book away. Then she went back inside.

Ben was sitting at his desk trying to look as innocent as possible. It took him less than three seconds before he realized that Mal had a bit of a fire going in her belly. He smiled uncertainly. "Do I get to live?" he asked.

Mal ignored the question. "I hear you can do magic, huh?" she asked him instead. She tried to look as upset as possible but she was secretly laughing inside.

Ben instantly knew what she was referring to. "Umm, no. Can't do magic." he replied uncertainly.

"You're sure?" she asked while she walked around the room. She was randomly opening drawers and looking under large objects.

Ben was very confused. "Pretty sure." He replied.

She strolled over to his bed and pulled a notebook out of a drawer in the headboard. Lonnie had told her where it was but she wasn't going to enlighten him. "Huh. This looks like a spell book. Let's see what kind of spells are in here…" Ben's face went white while she started to flip. "Hmm 'Take the proud and make them meek. Make her bottom stitches weak.'" She chanted at him. "Sounds like a spell to me. Is that why my britches split that day in the Isle?"

"Of course not, it was just chance. I can't really do magic!" The color drained out of Ben's face when he realized what he had admitted to.

Mal pounced on his admission. "So Lonnie wasn't making it up!"

"I'm sorry. I was watching but it just happened. Coincidence. I can't actually do ma…"

Mal interrupted him. "Did you like what you saw?"

This was not the question that Ben had been expecting. He stared at her, uncertain of how he should answer and trying to figure if it was a trick. Finally he decided on honesty and nodded yes.

"You have been a naughty boy. " She held up the book. "Let's see what else you have in here." She flipped through the pages. His discomfort was exquisite. He followed her around the room trying to see over her shoulder. He obviously didn't remember exactly what he'd written and was afraid that one of them would really make her mad. He was wrong about that. Her boyfriend was supposed to like her butt. And the rest of her for that matter. If he didn't, well, then there was a problem. Oh, she knew that he also loved and respected her. But this bestial side of his nature was a lot of fun too. She ignored all of his halfhearted attempts to grab the notebook away from her. She showed him no mercy. She giggled at some of the pathetic rhymes and murmured things like 'amateur' under her breath at others. When she reached the last page, she realized she'd found the perfect one. She didn't let him see it. Pretending outrage, she twisted away for a minute and cast her own little spell quietly so he wouldn't hear her.

"Grant this boy a single spell, if it is the truth he tells." She felt the little rush of energy that meant the magic would respond when she wanted it to.

Then she walked back over to him, pushed him down onto the couch and climbed back onto his lap. This time she was facing him. She wrapped his arms around her back when he seemed too afraid to do it himself.

She looked at him carefully. "Do you love me? Really love me? I want you to think about it and answer that very honestly. Are you sure that you're truly in love with me and not just obsessed with my backside?" she asked him carefully.

"I do love you. All of you." Ben said. "And I'm sorry about the…"

Mal stopped him by putting a finger on his lips. She stared into his eyes. She held up his notebook but didn't let him see the page yet. She tried to sound as upset as possible. "Still, I'm absolutely shocked by what you've written in here. But, maybe, just maybe, you really do love me. I'll guess we'll let the magic decide. In a minute, we're going to find just how magical you really are. You're going to memorize this naughty little spell I've chosen." She held the spell book up so he could see the pretend spell he'd doodled on the last page. His eyes went wide and panic set into them. She held his gaze unflinchingly. "Do you have it?" She said asked. He nodded and she tossed the book away. Then she pulled back so his hands were just resting against her back. She hardened her eyes. It was time to drop the hammer. "Now try the spell and we'll see what happens. If you truly love me, I think the magic will tell us."

He braced himself. This was it. He had no real magic. This was going to be a disaster. Nothing would happen and she'd walk right out of this room and out of his life. With resignation in his voice he started to read.

"If Mal gives a little gasp, it will make her bra unclasp."

Nothing happened. The words of the spell hung between them like an anchor. He couldn't believe that he'd been dumb enough to put those words on paper. "Look, I don't really have magic." He said, trying to defend himself but knowing it had been unforgivable. "But I've loved you since the first moment I saw you and I'll never stop."

"Shhh." Mal again put her finger on his lips to silence him. "Sometimes the magic takes a little while."

They stared into each other's eyes for what seemed like hours. Mal worked hard to keep a straight face. His eyes were filled with regret as his hands stroked her back. Finally, looking deep into his eyes to make sure that he didn't miss it, she took one, short deep breath.

Ben felt fabric briefly twist under his fingers. His eyes opened wide at the absurd grin that suddenly covered Mal's face.

The spell had worked.

"So…" Mal said, running her fingers down his chest. "We know what good girls don't do. Why don't we talk a little bit about what bad girls do…." And then she kissed him.


	16. Chapter 16

Mal slowly opened the door of her room and peered inside. It was dark, quiet, and there was a person sized lump under the covers on Evie's bed. Thankfully it was just one person sized, not two. Not that Mal had expected Evie to bring Doug back to their room. They'd barely even started to date. But Mal's situation was awkward enough without adding another witness. Feeling happy that luck had smiled on her, she slipped inside and tried to get ready for bed as quietly as possible.

She was just starting to change when a light flipped on. With a squeak of panic, she dove for cover behind her bed. She sat there for a moment with her heart trying to pound its way outside of her chest. There was no other sound. From the angle of the light, she was pretty sure that it was Evie's bedside lamp. Hopefully that meant she'd just woken Evie. That knowledge gave her enough courage to peer above her bed and check. Sure enough, Evie was staring over at her with a small grin on her face.

"Would you turn that off?" Mal hissed at her.

They stared at each other for a minute and then Evie reached over and hit the switch. The room was returned to shadows cast by the moonlight streaming through their windows. Mal pulled herself up onto the bed and resumed changing clothes. Mal wasn't looking at Evie but she could almost hear that grin accusing her of all kinds of late night shenanigans. Instead of waiting for Evie to start in with in questions, she decided that she'd try to turn the tables. "Did you have fun with Doug tonight? He seemed to have a wicked little gleam in his eye when I saw him."

"Doug and I had a very nice walk. We talked a lot. He told what it was like growing up as the son of Dopey. He always felt pressure to play dumb to fit in. People expected him to be just like his dad. It was kind of like I was playing dumb because that's what I thought guys wanted. Turns out we were both wrong. Real friends didn't judge him because he was smarter than his dad. And, well, you hammered it into my head and Doug is helping to prove that a guy worth having doesn't want me to play dumb either."

"Did he get a good night kiss?" Asked Mal, trying to keep the focus off of herself.

"He got a good night hug. We barely know each other and Moth… Scratch that. I SAY that you should really know someone before you let them munch your face."

"You're probably right." Said Mal while she tried to reach back to untie the laces on her gown. Blast it, they were just too tangled up. "Could you come over here and help me out of this crazy straight jacket of a dress?"

Evie came over and began to help unlace the dress. "How did all these laces get messed up? I had them perfect when you left this morning." She said as she tugged at a nasty knot.

"Must have been all the dancing. You know, lots of jumping, twisting, etc." Mal said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Maybe…" said Evie but Mal knew she didn't believe it. "There – all done. Should slide off of you now." As the dress finally came off, Evie was left staring at Mal's back. Her completely bare back. "Umm, where's your bra?" asked Evie.

Mal froze. "I, um, wasn't wearing one. You did such a good job constructing this dress that I didn't need it."

"Nice try. I know you were wearing one because I helped you get into that dress this morning. So, what really happened?" Evie pushed.

"I lost it…" mumbled Mal.

"How could you lose your bra? That doesn't make any sense. It's not like you could have even taken it off unless you took off your…" Evie looked down at the dress and the somewhat mangled laces that had held it on. "Mal…. Were you a naughty girl this evening?"

Mal bit her lip. She was trying not to smile but she was in an awfully good mood. Everything tonight had been wonderful. Even this interrogation from Evie was fun. It meant she had a good friend who cared about her. She pulled on a nightshirt and contemplated the best reply. Then she had it. "That would depend on who you asked. Ben thought I was pretty good…."

Evie spun her around. "Mal! What did you do?"

Mal looked at her friend. "Are you really asking me to kiss and tell?"

Evie glanced down at the messed up laces on the dress she'd just helped Mal take off. A few of them looked like they'd almost ripped. "I'm guessing it's closer to 'grope and tell' but, yes, I am! Spill!"

"Well, Ben and I were up talking. Lonnie was still there. I was telling them all about how we'd originally planned to get the wand and why I'd done the love spell and stuff. And then I asked him why we'd been brought over from the Isle in the first place and they both kind of froze. Turns out Benny Boo wasn't quite as innocent in all of this as it looked. I was kind of upset so Lonnie took me out for a walk and explained everything. She told me about Ben seeing me while scying the Isle and falling in love with me at first sight. At that point, all he wanted to do was get rid of Audrey and start going out with me." Mal decided that while she was going to tell Evie most of what happened, she wasn't going to reveal her boyfriend's fixation with her bottom. "Anyway, he then took some time to look around the rest of the Isle. He saw how all four of us weren't happy being evil. He thought that we needed a chance to make our own choice in life. So that's why he brought us all over. It's really sweet when you think about it." Mal presented it as if it was the end of the story.

"I suppose it is. But, unless Lonnie magicked your bra out of your dress, you're still leaving something out of that story." Evie said.

"Oh, that. Sorry. It slipped my mind." Mal teased her friend. "Anyway, now that I was calm, I went back to see Ben. We talked some more. It turned out that the naughty boy had this pretend spell book with all these silly rhymes in it. One of them even involved unhooking my bra. I thought it would be hilarious if I made the spell work, so I did. Oh my goblins, Evie. You should have seen his face when felt it unhook under his hand. It was priceless. He didn't have a clue what to do. Then I had him undo the laces on the dress because you know how weird it feels to be wearing an unhooked bra. After that he really didn't know what to do."

"Did you know what to do?" asked Evie, surprised at her friend's decision.

"Not really." Mal confessed. "But, well, we kind of figured it out together."

"Did you…" Evie left the phrase hanging out there.

Mal looked at her in confusion and then realized what Evie as referring to. "Umm, no. No we didn't do that. No way. I was indeed a wee bit naughty tonight, but I wasn't stupid. And neither was Ben. In fact, he was the one who called a halt to the evening."

"I don't believe it. Ben had you there in his arms… he had your dress and bra off, you weren't stopping him, but he stopped you?"

"Well, the dress wasn't actually off, just, kind of loosened. I'm not that fast! But yes, he did stop us. It was the sweetest thing he could have done. Like I said, we had been enjoying things for a while and, I just have to confess – kissing and all is better than strawberries. Seriously better. Better than chocolate dipped strawberries. Like way better. Anyway, both of us started getting caught up in the moment and maybe we would have gone farther than we should have. But Ben took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and said that it was time to call it a night. I didn't want to and so I then assumed that there was something wrong with me or what I'd been doing and I started to get mad for a minute. But he just said that this was all new to us and there wasn't any need to rush. We might as well take our time and enjoy everything. That was so wonderful that I just started kissing him again. He actually to get a little beastlike to get me to stop. Which almost made me attack him a third time because I likes my Ben when he's beast-like. But finally we got calmed down and I pulled myself together enough that I could make it down here before we got caught.

"And your bra?" asked Evie resignedly.

"We couldn't find it. I don't understand. We looked and looked and it was just gone. It's not like we left the couch so where could it have gone?"

"Maybe Ben kept it as a souvenir? A reminder of your first, umm, make out session?"

"I don't think so. And somehow that would be kind of creepy so I hope he didn't."


	17. Chapter 17

Mal had finished all of her classes for the day and was wandering the halls of the school. For the first time in her life, she felt like she'd found a place that she belonged. Admittedly there were still some students and adults who weren't completely fond of her. But her actions at the coronation seemed to have convinced everyone that she did have a right to be here. In essence, she'd stood in that cathedral with the power to plunge all the kingdoms into darkness. All she'd have had to do was to hand that wand over to her mother and it would have been curtains for everyone. It had been a test of her character and she'd passed with flying colors. And, as Fairy Godmother had said at the time, an A in Remedial Goodness 101.

She heard a shout from down the hallway and saw Ben hurrying toward her. He looked so cute when he was rushing to see her. He looked like a puppy who had waited all day to see his master. Okay, maybe that was a messed up image but it definitely fit. Ben always looked so happy to see her. He wasn't afraid to smile or show his joy to those around him. Mal tended to be a lot more guarded on that front. Showing how much something pleased you on the Isle was a great way to get it kicked right out of your grasp. And letting the world know that you loved someone? Well, that put them in a lot of danger. Mal had already experienced that once and she hoped to never do so again.

"I was just looking for you, beautiful." Ben said, kissing her on the cheek. Mal pulled away from Ben quickly and then told herself to calm down. Ben caught her look. "What's wrong?"

"Sorry. Sometimes you showing your affection in public makes me a little nervous. On the Isle, it was a great way to get a target painted on your back. It's a part of why I have such a tough time doing it myself." She took a deep breath, leaned out, and kissed Ben quickly on the lips.

"Do you want me to stop?" asked Ben, worriedly.

"No! Definitely not. I love it. Every time you do it, it reminds me that I'm not on the Isle anymore. It helps me to get past my fear. Just don't take it personally if I pull away from time to time or seem to panic."

"It helps every single time?" asked Ben. Mal nodded. Then, with a wicked gleam in his eye, Ben drew her to him and started giving her short little kisses. There were a few seconds between each one and he always gave her the opportunity to pull away if she wanted to. At first it was weird, then it was just absurd. Finally she started to giggle and hugged him.

"You are the best boyfriend ever, do you know that?" Mal laughed. "This might take a long time to really get over so feel free to kiss me senseless if necessary."

Ben squeezed her. "I plan to take you up on that offer. Repeatedly." He leaned in for a more passionate kiss. It went on and on until finally she pushed him away. It wasn't fear that she was feeling at this point. Or, at least, it wasn't that she was afraid that someone would see them. Her concern was that they wouldn't stop.

She tapped him on the nose. "Down boy! We'll finish that later. When we can enjoy it properly." Mal strangely felt the need to straighten her clothes even though they hadn't done anything. "So why were you looking for me anyway?"

"Did I need a reason?" asked Ben, bemusedly.

"No, but it seemed like you had one. Out with it. What's going on?" she asked.

"I talked with my father and we're going to bring over another group of kids from the Isle. I know you just got here and you're still adjusting but we figured it was a good idea to strike while the iron was hot, so to speak. Most people are willing to give villain kids the benefit of the doubt right now. That's important since eventually, someone we bring over won't decide to choose good or will have a more difficult time adjusting than you all did."

"More difficult than being afraid our parents would kill us if we didn't bring them a magic wand to allow them to take over the world? Seriously Ben, what's worse than that?"

"I'm not sure and I don't want to guess. And luckily most people don't know about your original plans so they think your choices were easier than they were. I'm hoping to keep it that way."

"Good idea. Let's not give the world another reason to distrust me." Then, suddenly seeing a great opportunity to tease her boyfriend, Mal pretended to be outraged "Wait a minute! You found yourself a girl you think is cuter than me! I'm about to be replaced, aren't I?"

"No! I would never…." Ben's panicked reaction was tempered when Mal couldn't keep the straight face anymore and grinned.

"You are too easy to fool, love of mine." She said, kissing him lightly. "But it means you have a good heart so don't change a bit."

Chagrined at being fooled, Ben just sighed. Excitement would never be in short supply with Mal around. And that was exactly the way he wanted it. "Okay, you got me. Anyway, you really don't have to worry about me choosing some cute girl because I won't be selecting the new people."

"Then who will?"

"You." Replied Ben with a grin. "It was my dad's idea actually. He was hoping you'd know a few good choices. Maybe three or four. I plan to give any child from the Isle who wants a chance at a better life that opportunity. But not too many at once. I don't want anyone getting lost in the shuffle if we move too quickly on this."

"I'm not sure who to choose…." Said Mal doubtfully. "Admittedly, if I was looking at myself on the island right now, I wouldn't even choose me. I don't think I even had the potential to change until I got here."

"I trusted you, Mal. Both then and now. You'll find the right people."

"But what if I don't? What if someone I bring over stays bad? It'll be my fault." Mal was a little scared of what might happen if she let loose a real monster.

"No, it'll be their fault. All we can do is give them the chance to be good. It will always be up to the individual to decide who they want to be. That's true of everyone in Auradon too. But we'll do our best to show the Isle kids that they can have a brighter future if they want it. But they will still have to choose that instead of darkness."

"I still don't…." Mal didn't even know how to finish her sentence.

"Talk to your friends. I bet they can help you figure it out. I've got to go. Just leave the list with the limo driver. I want them to come over as soon as possible so they are in time to start the next school term." With a final hug, Ben started to hurry away. "I don't want to be late for that meeting with the Mer-Kingdom."

Mal remembered him telling her about it this morning. Apparently it was poor manners to meet with them if you weren't in the water so he'd have to be swimming the entire time. She thought about those buxom mermaids in their shell bras floating around him. "Ben?" He stopped to look at her. "Just to be clear, when you're swimming around with those mermaids? I don't care if you're drowning. No doing the breaststroke!"

Her joke was rewarded with a good chuckle from Ben as he left to get his feet wet in the business of being king.

Humbled by the responsibility that Ben had given to her, Mal went to find her friends. She explained the situation to them and asked for suggestions.

Jay spoke up. "Jack maybe? The one who's the son of the Queen of Hearts? He's a bit of a knave…."

"Seriously? Card related humor? You couldn't resist?" murmured Carlos.

Jay ignored him. "Anyway, he wants to escape his mother's influence as much as you ever did."

Evie joined in. "Yeah. You can only hear 'Off with his head' so many times growing up before you don't want anything to do with your mother."

"Who else?" asked Mal.

"How about one of Hook's daughters?" asked Evie.

Carlos grimaced. "If it has to be one of them, then please choose Jamie, not Harriet. Jamie's a lot more fun."

Mal nodded. "And she's younger. She hasn't been poisoned by bitterness quite as much. Good idea."

Jay tapped his chin. "You've got Jack and Jamie. You said Ben wanted three?"

Mal nodded. "Or four. But I think three is enough. So, I think we're set."

"We're only set if you've already thought of a third person." replied Carlos.

"I have. The third person is going to be Amelia." Mal said, definitively.

All her friends looked shocked. Finally Evie spoke up. "Are you sure Mal? I mean, you went to a lot of trouble to put Amelia where she is right now. Are you sure it's safe to let her out?"

Jay nodded. "Plus, I heard that she was really angry about it. Are you sure you want to deal with that now?"

"I did what I had to do. She understood that… I think…" Mal said defensively.

Evie chimed in. "Won't people here and on the Isle be suspicious of why you chose her?"

Mal nodded. "They might be. But I'm willing to take that chance. Plus, my mom is the size of a gecko now and won't be able to interfere anymore. It's time to deal with Amelia once and for all."

Meanwhile…..

Audrey had seen Ben leaving for the meeting with the Mer-Kingdom so she knew she wouldn't be disturbed. After a quick glance down the hallway, she popped open Ben's door and quickly shut it behind her. Then she sat down at his computer and attempted to log in with Ben's username and password. It didn't' work. "Darn it, he must have changed his password." Audrey thought. She tried one more time just in case. She searched his desk hoping that he had written it down somewhere but nothing was obvious and she didn't anyone to notice too many failed logon attempts. Frustrated, she spun around in the chair to leave. Ben's computer was hooked to a different network than the school computers and his access as first prince and now King was much greater. She'd been using it for a long time to dig up dirt on her enemies. The security cameras were always a great source of blackmail material. And sometimes the school records would hold all kinds of gritty little details. If she was ever going to press her family's claim to the throne, she was going to need some way to make people bend to her will….

Oh well, she'd find another way. It would just take a little bit more time. She leaned back for a minute. It hurt to look at everything she'd lost when Ben had fallen in love with that purple haired harlot. Then she saw something really strange. It looked like there was a bra hanging from the chandelier right above the couch. "You sluts!" she thought, referring to both Ben and Mal. "You've only been dating for like a week!" Her outrage was partially because good girls didn't do that sort of thing. But it was mostly because she'd offered Ben everything that Mal had apparently given him and he'd refused her. That hurt a lot.

Furious, she started to leave when her original reason for coming in popped back into her mind. There might be something she could do with Mal's bra to cause discord in the kingdom. Or at the very least, there might be something that would mess up Ben's perfect little life. Audrey jumped up onto the couch and just barely managed to snag the bra down where it had obviously gotten stuck in a moment of silliness. Then she tucked it into her purse and with a happy little whistle, headed out of Ben's room.

If what Ben wanted was a bad girl, well then that's what he was going to get.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trying something new – Mixing in Pinksakura271's OC character Amelia because I thought it would be a lot of fun. It might be odd for those people who aren't as fond of non-canon stuff but it should work out well for anyone who thinks there needs to be more copies of Dove Cameron out there….. (That's a hint…)

The parents of Jamie Hook and Jack O'Heart had all grudgingly agreed that their children could come to Auradon. Mal had written the letters to them herself and tried to emphasize how wonderful Auradon was. Part of Mal wanted to think that they said yes because they wanted a better life for their kids. But when she was honest with herself, she had to admit that they had probably come up with their own plan for how their kids could get them off of the Isle. Well, all she could do about that was to talk to Jake and Jamie about her own experiences and hope that they could shrug off whatever craziness they were involved in.

Amelia was a different case. There was no parent on the Isle to write a letter to. That had been a little awkward to deal with. And even though that wasn't entirely Mal's fault, she still felt responsible for it. Still, Mal had to admit the truth. Amelia's mother never would have said yes anyway. Especially after what happened at the coronation. So maybe it was better this way. Still, Mal knew that Amelia might hold everything that happened against her. She had to hope for the best.

Picking up Jamie and Jack would be simple. The driver would just get them at the school on the Isle. Amelia was more complicated. She'd had to give a number of very strange instructions to the other limo driver and security guard who would be bringing Amelia over. Their eyes had gone wide when she'd explained why it was all necessary and then, after a brief consultation with their supervisor, decided to take a second guard with them. "Just to be safe." the guard said to her apologetically. But Mal just told him that he didn't have to apologize. She completely understood.

They were all set to arrive at two in the afternoon. Mal had organized a 'Welcome to Your New Home' party with some of the nicer students and her friends. She figured that would be a lot better than the lame tour and class schedule that Ben had thrown at her in her first fifteen minutes. Admittedly, it had served a useful purpose. It had been a long drive and they had needed to know where the bathrooms were. But beyond that, it was a cold way to be welcomed to a new life. Ben didn't get that because he'd never lived on the Isle. But, seriously, the boy was a king now. He really should figure out the whole hospitality thing.

Mal worked herself into a tither getting everything perfect. Decorations and food were all approved and in place. And she'd carefully screened the guests to make sure that only the most welcoming people were there. She'd even sent a fake invite to Audrey saying it was on the opposite end of the school in the hope that she if she decided to show up, she'd go to the wrong place.

Shortly before two, Carlos managed to accidentally spill half the bowl of punch all over her. It soaked her for head to toes in a bright red mess. She looked down at herself and cringed. Red on top of purple never looked good. Evie had looked at her dress, shook her head, and firmly pointed a finger toward their rooms. Fuming at Carlos's clumsiness, she called Ben and asked him to take over she went up to change. He'd been tied up in another meeting but agreed to cut it short so there would be someone official to greet them.

Incidentally, those meetings were starting to get annoying. Ben had less and less time to spend with her as the days went past. Mal knew that running a kingdom well took a lot of work. But still, you'd think that if you were the King, you could schedule the meetings when you wanted them to be. That wouldn't be too oppressive, would it?

Ben had been really happy to have an excuse to escape the Royal Council meeting. They'd been running roughshod over him lately and he really didn't know how to change it without sounding like a whiny kid. His dad was no help at all on the subject. He always claimed that it had worked this way for years and there wasn't any reason to change it. Whenever Ben tried to bring up the idea of changing something that his dad had put in place with others, they said the same. The result of that was that despite the crown changing heads, true power had remained with his father. He was beginning to wonder in they were ever going to let him be King.

Walking down the steps to the party, Ben was extremely nervous about meeting this new set of Isle of the Lost kids. He'd wanted everything to happen quickly and he'd gotten his wish. But that meant that there hadn't been any time for Mal to tell him about who she'd chosen. He didn't even know how many were coming. He trusted Mal's judgement but his dad had taught him to never meet with someone before you knew who they were. And it was hard to let that early training go.

Just as Ben arrived, a limo pulled up. Ben watched two kids get out, a boy and a girl. That was a little disappointing. If Mal could only find two people she was comfortable bringing over, that didn't bode well for the future of this little rehabilitation endeavor. Still, two was better than none and he'd make the best of it.

"Welcome, friends. My name is Ben. I'm King here in Auradon. I only mention that because I want you to know how important it is to us that you feel welcome here. We're hoping that you can make Auradon Prep your home away from home. Mal should be along soon. She wanted to be here when you arrived but got just a little bit delayed."

The girl from the limo stepped forward. She was short with shoulder length hair black hair tied back in a red ribbon. She was wearing what looked like a sea captains coat but tailored for a female figure. A bright red shirt, black pants, and black boots completed her ensemble. She walked straight up to Ben and stared him right in the eyes. "Hi there, gorgeous. Thanks for having us." She looked from side to side at the party setup. "How about you and I ditch this place and go get our feet wet? Try a little skinny dipping?" There was an interesting little accent in her voice that spoke volumes about what would happen if he said yes.

Ben looked back at her in shock. He didn't want to hurt her feelings but he wasn't sure how to politely decline an invitation like that. Luckily, he was saved by Carlos.

"Be careful Jamie. He belongs to Mal. And you remember what happens when someone messes with her things… right?"

Jamie's face went white as she backed away. "Sorry. Just, umm, trying to make a good first impression and show that I'm not some weak will land lubber. Didn't mean anything by it, alright." She looked over at Carlos. "Please don't tell Mal!"

Evie joined them and laughed. "It's okay. Mal has relaxed a lot since she got here. I'm sure she won't do anything – permanent- to you." She walked over and gave Jamie a hug. "I've missed how forward you are though. Never afraid to jump right into any situation."

"My father used to say 'there are old pirates and bold pirates. But no old, bold pirates.' Still, I'd rather live a little instead of spending your entire life afraid of a crocodile."

Ben recovered from his shock. "And that's what we want to give you the chance to do. To live a life unshackled from your parent's mistakes."

Jamie winked at him. "That's good. 'cause us pirates don't like shackles. 'less of course they're in the bedroom…."

Ben blushed and they all laughed. Then he remembered the other occupant of the limo. "Hello. Like I said, I'm Ben. And you are?"

The boy from the limo looked at Ben, then looked away. "Jack. I'm just Jack."

The boy was a little silly looking and Ben was pretty sure he was both aware and not happy about it. He was dressing in a white suit with red accents. He had blond hair that fell down his back and was curled at the ends.

Ben tried to keep the surprise out of his voice. "Well, nice to meet you. If there's anything I can do to help you get settled in, just let me know."

"Can you point me toward a barber shop?" Jack asked. Seeing everyone's surprise at this odd request, he sighed. "I know I look like an idiot. Mother insisted. Even curled my hair herself. The biggest reason I agreed to come to this place was so that I could get a proper haircut. Anytime I tried to ask mother about one, she said that the only time I would get my hair cut was if my head came off with it."

Ben wasn't sure how to respond to that. "I'm… sorry?" he tried.

"Me too. So can you help a guy out so he can stop looking like a girl?" Jack replied.

Evie jumped into the conversation. "We can definitely help you. Why don't you grab something to eat while I make some arrangements?" She pulled Jack over to where everyone else was visiting leaving Ben standing on his own.

While all of this was going on, no one had noticed the second limo pull up. A girl with bright pink hair noiselessly slid out of the door and started slowly walking toward the group. She had a pink leather jacket on that fit her figure perfectly. A dark pink tank top that said 'Think Pink or Evil' peaked out from the unzipped front. Jeans with roses down the sides and pink ankle boots completed the ensemble. She looked around but didn't see the person she'd wanted to see for what seemed like forever. A little bit of anger warred with a little bit of disappointment inside her heart. After everything Mal had put her through, she felt hurt that Mal wasn't standing here to greet her. "Was Mal afraid?" she thought. "Ashamed? Too cool to care? What was going on?"

At that point, one of the cutest boys she'd ever seen turned away from the party and faced her. And his eyes just lit up with he saw her. This was one of the things she'd always dreamed about. Where she'd lived, she hadn't met many boys and the ones she had met hadn't been nice. Either looking or personality, take your pick. But here was a truly dreamy guy looking at her with adoration. She froze as he walked toward her. Then he reached out and touched her cheek. She smiled tremulously.

"Pink?" he said. "I never thought I'd see you in pink. You look wonderful!"

"What do you mean you nev…" her words were cut off when the cute boy started kissing her. It was amazing. Just what she'd dreamed of. Then his arms wrapped around her. That was nice. Then his hands slid into the back pockets of her jeans. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about that. Then his fingers tightened as he squeezed her butt. And her eyes went red just as a girl with purple hair came rushing toward them.

Ben suddenly found himself flipping through the air. Then he was lying flat on the ground. There was foot on his chest and something incredibly painful was being done to his arm and his thumb. Arms in a pink jacket were twisting them somehow and it really hurt. He looked up at Mal. "Look, I'm sorry about that. But yesterday you told me to go ahead and…" He trailed off because he realized that he was looking at two Mal's. One with pink hair that was mangling his arm and one with purple hair who seemed unable to stop laughing. He blinked. They were both still there. "Mal? I think I hit my head. There are two of you."

Amelia, for that was the name of the girl with the pink hair, followed Ben's gaze and saw her twin sister convulsed with laughter. She instantly realized what had happened and let go of Ben. "He's the king, isn't he? The boyfriend you wrote about? I just flipped the King of Auradon onto his back and put him in an arm bar lock. I'm going to get sent back to the Isle. Great…." She sighed. "This is your fault, you know. You could have sent a darn picture! That place you stuck me in didn't have a TV." She looked down again at Ben's confusion, then back up at her sister Mal. "I'm guessing you didn't tell him you had a twin?" Amelia didn't sound happy.

Mal managed to find her voice. "No. I never quite got around to it."

Ben looked up at them, still very confused. "You said you were an only child." He accused.

Mal pulled him to his feet. "Yes I did. And there was a good reason for that. Which I'll go over with you when your eyes are able to focus again. But I'll start here. Ben? This is my twin sister. Amelia. Or Amy to most people. She's the third person I chose to bring over from the Isle."

"Nice to meet you." Said Ben automatically putting out his hand. Then he pulled it back, afraid of what Amelia might do to it.

Mal put her arm around Ben protectively. "Don't be too mad at him. I've been having this problem getting used to affection in public so I told him not to be afraid to just grab me and kiss me."

"Did you also tell him to grab your butt?" Amelia asked pointedly.

Mal turned on Ben. "Wait a minute! You grabbed my sister's butt? What kind of boyfriend are you?"

Ben backed away a bit. "I didn't know about the twin stuff so I thought I was grabbing yours….." he said, hoping that would calm her down. "I thought you'd like it."

Mal thought about it. Despite wanting to be offended that Ben had touched another girl, especially her sister, she had to admit that, indeed, Ben slipping his hands into her back pockets had a lot of appeal. And he was right. There hadn't been any reason for him to suspect that she had a twin. So she pulled her boyfriend back into her arms and have him an apologetic hug. "I forgive you then. And hopefully you'll forgive him too, Amy. I should have told him you were coming but I didn't. But this is your one mistake Ben. Next time – check the hair color before you start getting affectionate."

Ben managed a laugh. "Definitely." He twisted his arm a little trying to work out the soreness. Amelia's glare was still frosty so Ben tried another tack. "And I'm sorry too about the mix up, Amy. Hey, you may want to consider trying out for Tourney. We've never had a co-ed team but I think you'd do just fine."

"No thanks." replied Amelia, not quite in the mood to officially accept the apology. "Getting sweaty with a bunch of jocks is not my idea of fun."

They were interrupted by the sound of high heels clicking on the pavement. It was Audrey and even though she hadn't been invited, had apparently figured out Mal's little bit of misdirection. Her nose was stuck in the air and she wasn't paying the best attention to the people around her. "Hello. I'm Princess Audrey. I'm so sorry that I'm late. As one of the ruling families, I thought I should also greet the latest 'guests' from the Isle but someone told me the party was at the far side of the tourney field." Her gaze searched for Mal and found something very strange. Mal had gone pink. That was odd enough that it kept her from using the fancy insult she'd spent most of the walk here figuring out. Confused, her eyes flipped to the right. She saw Ben standing there, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "What am I missing?" she asked him, hesitantly. Then her eyes flipped to the left. She saw another Mal. This one was the normal purple and consumed by giggles. Part of her knew what she was seeing but she just couldn't accept it. "You…" she said to Mal. "You… You have… You have a…." She couldn't say anymore.

"Twin." Finished Mal. "I have a twin. Her name is Amelia. Or Amy for short. It seems kind of obvious. Are you sure you don't need some sort of remedial class yourself?"

Amelia stuck out her hand in greeting. "You must be the girl Ben dumped. Nice to meet you!"

"He didn't dump me. I dumped him!" Audrey said defensively. "And you've heard about that, even on the Isle?"

Amelia blinked at her. "Everybody's heard about that."

Audrey's eyes flipped back and forth between the twins. She couldn't figure out who hated her so much that they had put two Mal's into the world to vex her. Her emotions kept spiraling farther and farther out of control. Then she couldn't help herself. Audrey screamed a word that princesses aren't even supposed to know, let alone say. And right after that, she fainted dead away.

Amelia looked over at her still laughing sister. But she didn't find any of this amusing at all. For all that Mal had said that this was a safe place, she'd obviously made a few enemies. And that concerned her. Was it so many that coming out of hiding was a mistake? She turned to her sister sharply. "You and I need to talk. Now!" Amelia grabbed Mal's hand and dragged her away.

Ben was left staring after them and wondering what had caused Amy to freak out. It didn't make any sense but he suspected that he really wouldn't know what was going on until Mal explained why she hadn't told him she had a twin. And that would only happen when Mal was ready. Resigned to waiting, he looked down at Audrey lying collapsed on the ground. "Now what?" he thought.

Jay walked up and slapped Ben on the back. "Smooth move kissing both of them. I don't think anyone's ever done that and lived before." Then he looked down at Audrey. "Do you think I should try mouth to mouth?" he asked.

Ben thought about it. He wanted to say yes. He really, really, really wanted to say yes. Then he sighed. "No. Just call the nurse." He twisted his sore shoulder again. "I'm going to go find some aspirin."


	19. Chapter 19

Amelia was almost physically dragging her twin sister to find a private place to talk. But after they'd gone about a hundred yards, Amelia realized she didn't have a clue where they were. Still, no one was close by so she let go of Mal and looked at her. "We can either talk here or you can take me someplace safer."

"Let's go up to my room. That's probably the best place for us to talk. I share with Evie but I'm sure she'll give us some space."

"Good. Because this needs to just be between us." mumbled Amelia while Mal guided her over to the dorm area."

Soon they were seated inside. Mal fussed a bit getting her sister something to drink and making sure that the drapes were drawn. If their discussion got out of control, it was better if there weren't any witnesses. "So, um, how have you been?" asked Mal cautiously.

"How have I been?" replied Amelia incredulously. "I've been stuck in a little tiny farm surrounded by goblin sentries for the last two years. How do you think I've been?"

"Good?" asked Mal hopefully. Amelia shook her head. "Umm, Was the countryside pretty?" asked Mal, trying to find a good spin for this.

"Sure was. Pretty trees… Pretty sky… Ugly goblins… The variety of things I had to see was just incredible." Replied Amelia sarcastically.

"Well, you look great. And look how you flipped Ben. Looks like those arms tutors that I arranged did a good job training you."

"Working with them filled up the time. And let me work out some of my aggression. I suppose that was a good idea of yours, sending them to me. I didn't really know how to be angry before I started flinging them about the farmyard. Especially after that ugly one decided to surprise me in my bedroom one night."

"Yeah, about that. Thank you for not doing to Ben what you did to that stupid tutor. I'm still paying off his family for the trouble that caused."

"I always give them at least one warning. Plus, once I had realized I wasn't in the middle of some crazy dream, I figured you'd want him back in one piece. You know, I don't have a lot of experience but I have to admit he's a pretty good kisser."

Mal blushed. "He's good at lots of things….."

That comment drew the first hint of a smile out of Amelia. "Like what? We're twins. We don't have secrets."

Mal went to tell her and then realized she couldn't even say it out loud. So she leaned close and whispered the details of what she and Ben had done the other night.

"Oh my pink! I can't believe you let him do that…. And you couldn't find your bra afterwards?"

"I missed hearing you say 'Oh my pink!'. But, no, we looked everywhere. Under the couch, between the cushions. No luck. I've been half expecting his mother to find it and haul me in for another 'birds and bees' chat."

Amelia actually smiled. "Your description of that in the letter was epic. I could almost feel myself sitting next to you while Belle explained all that sexy stuff. It must have been so awkward."

"Mega awkward. But like I said in the letter, I think she accepts me. I don't think she would have gone to that much trouble if she didn't. She's… She's really what we both wanted in a mother."

Amelia nodded. "Good. I hope she'll like me also. I've wanted to meet her for a long time. I want to know how she tamed that Beast into a husband."

"Me too. We'll have to ask her together." Mal took a deep breath. Now that Amelia had cheered up it seemed like a good time to ask. "Are we okay? I mean, are you okay with how things worked out?"

Amelia nodded. "I guess so. It was the best decision we could make in a very crummy situation. I wasn't suited for living on the Isle. Especially as we got older and mother wasn't around constantly. I couldn't order the lackeys around and I was constantly getting picked on if I wasn't right next to you."

Mal sighed. "I know. And the more I tried to protect you, the more people targeted you. I was getting afraid that you were going to really get hurt. I mean, attacking you was the only way they could get to me and every bully boy on that island knew it. And Mother wasn't any help. You weren't evil enough for her so she'd written you off a long time ago. But she didn't want the entire Isle to see that one of Maleficent's daughters actually wasn't rotten to the core. So she agreed to you going away and paid for everything."

"How exactly did that play out after I left? You wrote and said that it all worked but never went into detail."

"Well, after we spent that fun afternoon screaming at each other, making threats, and otherwise convincing everyone that we were mortal enemies, you of course disappeared mysteriously. For the next week or so, I pretended to be too mad to even talk about you. Then I started telling everyone that I'd banished you. I'll admit, I kind of had fun with making people think that if they messed with me, I'd banish them too. And Mother refused to admit that you even existed anymore…" Mal trailed off when she saw the hurt in Amelia's eyes. "It was just to protect you."

Amelia looked a little bitter and her eyes briefly flashed red in anger. She calmed a bit when Mal put her hand on top of Amelia's and gave it a soft squeeze. Then she found her voice. "She never loved me and you know it. I don't know if she loved you. I don't know if she was even capable of love. But she definitely never loved me."

Mal grimaced and held her fingers about two inches apart. "She was capable of this much love. That's how big she ended up when her spell backfired. Fairy Godmother said it was the size of the good in her heart."

"Then I'm glad I got away from her when I did. The last two years might have been a little lonely for me but I was so much happier than I had been at home. How did you survive staying with her? I think that must have been harder than leaving was."

"I was used to being tough and stamping down all my emotions so that's pretty much what I did. And I tried to make her… not mad. That was the best I could usually hope for. I wanted her to be proud of me but I don't think that was ever going to happen. It was kind of stupid but that effort got me through the days. Eventually, I got used to being evil." Mal had started strong but was starting to break down into tears. "I got so used to it in fact that I almost blew my chance here at a new life. I… missed you the entire time you were gone. And that just made me more angry and bitter. Eventually, I even started pretending you didn't exist because it hurt too much to think about what I'd lost." Mal was crying solidly now. "I'm so sorry about that. I'm sorry didn't keep you close and safe. I'm sorry I didn't tell Ben about you. And I'm sorry that Mother never realized that we all could have been stronger together!"

Amelia put her arms around her sister and held her while she cried. Whatever resentment she'd been holding had vanished when she realized the hell her sister had lived through to keep her safe. When Mal had finally calmed down enough that she would be able to hear her, Amelia spoke. "It was the right choice. And for all that I lived apart from you, well, I think I got the easier path. I got to study. I got to learn anything I wanted to without Mother asking if it was useful in the 'evil' world. I got to figure out who I was without anyone around to confuse me."

"I'm glad to hear that." Said Mal, sniffling a bit. "I seem to be crying a lot these days. I cried like a baby on my first date with Ben…" Mal grabbed Amelia's arm when it seemed like she was about to go find Ben and tell him off. "The date was wonderful. It was perfect. And he loved me. Me! No one but you had ever done that before and I'd kind of accepted the fact that I'd lost you. So it overwhelmed me. And then I cried again when I thought I was going to have to let him go too."

"I'm not surprised. As far as I know, you didn't even cry when you were born. You've got sixteen years of tears locked up inside that heart of yours. Some of them are bound to shake loose from time to time."

"When did you get so wise?" Mal asked her sister.

"When you stuck me away in the country and I had time to finally think. That's important to do from time to time. You might want to try thinking yourself."

"Brat." Mal mock swatted at her sister.

"Goody-goody" Amelia shot back.

Mal considered another comeback and then grinned. "Guilty as charged."

"Oh good. You're taking my 'thinking' advice. Hey, since all the emotional stuff is all done, let's get to the practical. Where am I staying? Am I rooming with you?"

"I considered it. But these rooms are designed for two and I don't want to push Evie out. Plus, I wanted you to keep an eye on Jamie. She's all pirate and likely to dive into things without considering the consequences. Maybe you can help her find a better path?" Mal asked. "Bringing over additional kids from the Isle… Well, I chose who came so I feel like I'm responsible for whatever happens. Auradon is a good fresh start for us. I don't want anyone to ruin it."

"Me too. I like living around something other than cows and goblins. So, sure, I can bunk with her. But expect me to still visit you a lot. We've got a lot to catch up on. Oh, speaking of catching, you'd better go catch that boyfriend of yours and explain this whole twin thing before he explodes"

"Good idea. I might have a lot of apologizing to do." Then Mal's eyes glinted mischievously. "It might get a little involved, so, umm, don't wait up…." And with that she swished out of the room.

"Only if you promise to give me all the juicy details!" Amelia shouted after her sister. Then she walked over and pushed open the curtains. All of Auradon prep stretched out before her. She smiled at all the possibilities it held. Then she realized Mal had forgotten something and went running after her sister. "You still haven't told me where my room is!"

Once she'd been caught by her sister and helped make the rest of the living arrangements for the new students, Mal want up to Ben's room to clear the air between them. It had only been a little lie, and almost more a lie to herself instead of Ben when she'd said she was an only child. But their relationship was so new and fragile that she was afraid of anything that might poison it. She knocked hesitantly at the door.

Ben opened the door. He looked at her carefully. Then he cautiously reached out a hand and lifted a lock of her hair. "This is purple, right?" he asked, teasingly.

Mal grinned. It looked like everything was going to be just fine between them. "I think so. But if you'd like to give it a more careful examination, please, take all the time you need."

Ben laughed, grabbed her waist, and lifted her inside the room. Then he kicked the door shut with his foot.

Later, when her hair, her lips, and her neck had all been properly examined by Ben, they took some time to talk. Mal told Ben the entire story of her sister. Ben was rather shocked to get another reminder of how difficult life was on the Isle of the Lost. But he understood sacrifice. He'd been raised by two people who had sacrificed everything for each other. People could make those types of terrible choices and still get happy endings. Knowing that made Mal feel a lot better. Finally, with curfew drawing near, she headed back down to her room with a clear heart.


	20. Chapter 20

Amelia had just finished getting dressed and was ready to head to breakfast. She hadn't originally been an early riser but farm life had pretty much beat it into her skull. That and that darn rooster crowing every morning at dawn. She'd tried to bribe a number of the goblins guarding her to get rid of it but all of them had been too cruel to help her. And when she'd tried to catch it herself and turn it into Sunday dinner, it had pecked her hand so hard that it drew blood and then hidden under the hen house. After that, she never caught it unawares again. It was like the thing knew whenever she was coming.

Looking out the window at the quiet school, she almost missed that stupid bird. Not the noise… She hated noise. She just missed little piece of home.

She opened the door to find Ben standing on the other side. She quickly took a step back, grabbed a lock of her hair, and kind of waved it in front of her face. "Just to be clear, this is pink..." she said, trying to get her bearings.

"I know. I was looking for you. Would you like to have breakfast with me this morning?" Ben said.

"Just me?" asked Amelia suspiciously. She could sense the tension coming off of Ben.

"For now, yes. Mal will be joining us a little later but I was hoping for an opportunity to get to know my girlfriend's sister. Unless you'd be more comfortable bringing Jamie along?"

Amelia glanced back at Jamie still asleep in her bed. The curtains were closed around it and light snore was coming from them. "Nope." she thought. "Bringing Jamie is not going to be an option. I think I'm stuck all on my lonesome with Mr. Handsome here."

She turned back to Ben. "Thank you. That would be fine." she reached over and grabbed her school bag. "Well, I'm ready to go."

Ben led her though the school to a table laid out on a small private balcony. He dished up a large plate of food from a buffet. Ham, bacon, sausage and hashbrowns. He finished with a large glass of orange juice. Ben noticed that Amelia was more picky. She chose four pieces of bacon and some hashbrowns. She finished with a glass of milk into which she added an extreme amount of strawberry syrup, then stirred it until she got the perfect pink color. Once they were both done getting food, they moved over to the table and sat down across from one another. And then the silence began.

Both of them ate slowly for different reasons. Ben didn't seem to be in any sort of rush while Amelia felt like the entire world was watching her eat. She took a bite of bacon, self conscious about chewing and eating in front of the King. Especially with how nervous he was. The emotions coming off of him were almost enough to make her sick. Still, she'd been wanting a private moment with him before things really got going so she decided to take advantage of the opportunity. "Ben, I'm sure that you are a nice guy, but if you hurt my sister..." she stopped when she realized he'd been talking at the same time as she had.

Ben decided that regardless of the outcome, it was time to say what he needed to say. "Amelia, I'm sure you're great, but Mal has worked really hard on becoming good…." He stopped as well.

They both stared at each other. After a moment, they both opened their mouths to speak again and then shut them immediately when they realized the other one wanted to speak. It happened one more time before Amelia put her hand up to stop him.

"I think we had the same basic speech planned." she said with a laugh. "Basically, Mal's great. Don't mess her up or you'll be sorry?"

Ben grinned as well. "I'm not sure if I was going to include the 'you'll be sorry part' but that was basically what I was going to say, yes. I love that sister of yours. It would kill me to hurt her. I risked a lot, in fact more than I knew at the time, to bring her here. Maybe you should know how that all started."

Ben went on to explain the plan that had brought Mal and her friends to Auradon. Amelia listened politely even though Mal had told her most of the story already in a letter. She was curious to see how honest he was about what had happened. As it turned out, his story was pretty close to Mal's, with the significant differences probably just owing to it being strange to talk about liking your girlfriends butt with her twin sister. "It would kind of be like he was talking about liking my butt too." Amelia thought with a grimace. "And I don't think I'm up for that this early in the morning." So she didn't mind that he'd left that part of the story out.

Ben started to finish up. "So, I guess what I wanted to say that, well, none of us are perfectly good or bad. I didn't have the purest motives when this all started but I always wanted a better life for your sister and her friends. And now I'm hoping you and your friends can share in that better life."

Amelia smiled. "My life wasn't so bad on the Isle. Well, it wasn't for the last couple of years. Things had been getting rougher and rougher as Mal and I grew up. But she was able to defend herself while I wasn't. It got dangerous. Plus, I was never evil enough for Mother. Finally, Mal arranged for me to live out in the country."

Ben stretched his shoulder. "From what you showed me yesterday, I think you can defend yourself just fine."

"I am now. I spent the last couple of years studying, well, everything. And that includes fighting, In addition to being able to flip you, I'm a darn good shot with a bow." Amelia didn't exactly want to brag but after two years, it was nice to tell someone what she'd been doing other than her sister."

"So, what's your dream job?" Ben asked.

"Probably a librarian. Just me alone with my books."

"I need to introduce you to my mother. Books are her obsession. I bent a corner once to mark a page and my mother actually spanked me."

"It's terrible to hit a child!" exclaimed Amelia.

"Child? She did it to me last week!" Ben said indignantly.

"That didn't really happen. You're teasing me."

Ben nodded. "I am. We do that to people we care about."

"They don't in my experience. But I guess that's the whole point of giving us a chance off of the island. To let us experience a world that isn't filled with pettiness and evil."

"That's why I did it, yes." Ben bragged.

Amelia nodded. "Well, that and you wanted to get your paws on my sister. But I'll let you keep your illusions. You know, you and Mal are a lot a like. More alike than she and I are in some ways. You both have a bit of spice to you but no true evil inside. Sometimes you'll get caught up in what your doing and think that the end justifies the means. And you're both willing to risk everything for someone you love." Amelia mock growled. "Darn it! I was all set to come in and protect my big sis from all comers. Looks like you have that covered already.

"Big sis?" Ben asked.

"I'm the younger twin. Sure I'm only a few minutes younger but, well, Mal has always been the one to go out and do things while I've been the one to stay home and read. Still, hope springs eternal that it will be my turn to rescue her someday… Not that I want it to be necessary of course."

"Don't worry." laughed Ben. "This is Mal we're talking about. Where she goes, trouble will follow."

"Did I hear my name being taken in vain?" came a cheery high pitched voice from outside the room. A few moments later, Mal came striding in the door.

"Of course not. I was explaining what an absolute angel you are." Ben bantered back at her. "Liar." she giggled. "I am not an angel and I think I proved that last night..."

Amelia cleared her throat. "I'm not sure if I'm up to hearing about that this early in the morning."

Mal giggled. "Oh, not that. 'That' was already over. I stubbed my toe getting ready to head back to my room. Ben was shocked to watch me hopping about his room using some of the most colorful language from the Isle."

"It was inspiring." said Ben. "I think she could have made a pirate blush."

Mal giggled again and gave Ben a quick little kiss on the lips. Then she grabbed a plate, piled it high, and dug right in like it was second nature to have breakfast with the King.

"It probably is second nature by now,..." Thought Amelia as the tried to make herself eat and participate in the more mundane morning chit chat that filled the rest of the meal. "I wonder what sort of new things I'll be getting used to?"

Ben looked back and forth between the two of them. "It's still difficult to accept the fact that your mother had twins."

"Not really." said Mal between bites. "Can you really see our mother going through pregnancy twice?"


	21. Chapter 21

Jamie had gotten herself out of bed right after Amelia had left to have breakfast with Ben. She hadn't really been asleep. She'd just been playing possum so that she could get dressed without Mal's sister watching her. It's not that she was shy, far from it. In fact, she'd once gone to school topless. She'd only been ten at the time so it didn't really count but it was the principle of the thing. No proper pirate was ever ashamed of who they were or what they did. That had been drilled into her from birth. Well, that and an unreasonable hate for children who could fly.

Well, she couldn't go to class topless today she thought as she pulled her nightshirt off, wincing the entire time. The stripes across her back that her father had given her right before she left were still rather sore. She expected that by tonight, her back would be an interesting combination of blue, black and green from the bruises.

"Find my ship!" He'd repeated over and over. "Don't get distracted by some boy like Maleficent's brat did! And don't think that you can decide to be good. You're more than a villain. You're a pirate. Evil is in your blood!"

She shuddered at the memory. He hadn't beat her like that for a very long time. In fact, he hadn't done it since that day she'd gone to school without her shirt. She'd been bruised up badly that day too and she'd done it so that her father had known he couldn't get away with hurting her anymore. People might have written off the bruises that day as the result of an active childhood but it had made them suspicious. If she'd kept showing up with them, her father would have been a goner. Even villains had limits to what they would put up with and child abuse was one of them. She sometimes thought it was strange that the villains on the Isle were okay with casting evil spells on children, emotionally abusing them, kidnapping them and even murdering them. But not even the worst of them would put up with physically beating a child. The threat that she would reveal him had kept her father under control until yesterday.

As she pulled her clothes on slowly, she had to laugh at herself a little bit. If Ben the King had called her skinny dipping bluff, she'd have been busted right away. But somehow she'd known he wouldn't. She could tell from his eyes right away that he was one of the few good guys out there. Pity that Mal had already claimed him. Still, part of her wished he had taken her up on her offer. It would be nice to get it all out in the open, so to speak. And those big hands might have felt nice on her skin…. But she didn't really want anyone finding out. Not yet, anyway. They might take matters into their own hands and that wasn't a part of her plan. She wanted to be the one to get revenge against her father someday. Not some court or royal decree. She wanted to inflict vengeance herself. It was the pirate way.

She was almost finished getting ready when there was a knock at the door. She pulled on a jacket and went over to answer it. When she opened the door, an attractive young man with blond hair in a buzz cut greeted her. "Ready for breakfast?" he asked.

Jamie flashed him a fake smile. "Very much so. So nice of the school to send a gorgeous hunk of a man like you to escort me around on my first day." She replied, defaulting to flirty like she always did when she was nervous.

"It's Jack." He said flatly.

She looked past him. "Where's Jack? Is coming with us too?"

"I'm Jack!" he said more firmly.

"Jack who?" she asked, still confused.

"Jack O'Hearts. From the Isle? I spent an hour in a limo with you yesterday…."

Jamie looked him up and down. It was him all right. If you took Jack from yesterday, subtracted 10 pounds of hair, and replaced his stupid fancy clothes with normal ones, this was indeed what you got. "Sorry, you look, ummm…."

"Like a gorgeous hunk of man?" he asked shortly.

"Different." Jamie said quickly to cover the sudden butterflies in her stomach. "Well, let's get some grub." Today was not going even remotely the way she thought it would.

As they strolled down the hallway, Jack was secretly thrilled with the way Jamie had reacted. He wanted Auradon to see him as a real man, not as some silly ninny with curled locks and a poet shirt. He'd never truly escape his mother's influence if they didn't. His mother, the Queen Of Hearts, had insisted that he stay away from other kids and forced him to dress in all that that silly garb. "You're one of a kind" she would tell him when she was feeling nice. "No mixing in with the rest of the pack." That was what she said when she was feeling nice. The rest of the time she'd be screaming about chopping people's heads off. And even if she wasn't serious, the yelling was still horrible to endure. Jack had vowed that he would take this chance in Auradon to make sure no one could ever abuse him like that again.

They reached the breakfast hall and had a rather quiet meal. Then they headed over to their first class, Remedial Goodness 101 where they found that Amelia had beaten them there by a few minutes. Together, they all began to learn about how life was different here compared to the Isle.

Late in the afternoon, Evie was sitting in her room finishing her homework. Normally she'd be with Doug while she was working, the two of them just enjoying each other's company. But that was getting a little old. Well, not old so much as comfortable. She didn't want comfortable. What she wanted was to figure out how to remove Doug from the 'friend zone' that she'd stupidly stuck him in. Back when she'd still thought that princes were the only way to go, she'd dismissed Doug's attentions as cute but unimportant. And then when she'd passed that test without her mirror, she'd still only thought of Doug as a friend, a good one, but still just a friend. He'd briefly risked his friend's anger by reaching out to her after the disaster during Parent's Day and a bit of desire had flared up in her. But then he'd backed down after Chad and the others yelled at him and she'd been a little bit angry at him for not sticking to his guns.

Maybe angry was the wrong word. Disappointed was probably closer. But she'd had some time to reflect on how outside pressure could make you do some stupid things. If no one was going to blame her for assisting in a plot that had almost giving total magical power to a psychotic fairy whose main beef in life was that she hadn't been invited to one stupid party, then she could forgive Doug for what was essentially a moment of weakness. He'd had enough courage to come over to see her. That showed he had a good heart.

And that was why she was finishing her homework alone. Because it was time to spend time with Doug without pretending there was a reason other than the pleasure of his company. She had just a couple of problems left when Lonnie knocked on the door.

"It's all set!" she said. "A romantic dinner, candles, soft music, the works. If this doesn't help you get things started with him, I don't know what will."

"Thank you so much!" effused Evie. "I wouldn't have asked but I have those two big tests coming up and I didn't want to let anything slip. There are so many things that I'm behind on because of how bad the schools were on the Isle."

"I understand completely. And you also wanted to make sure that studying wasn't on either of your minds while you spent time together. It's fine. I enjoy putting these little parties together. Hey, maybe that's what I could become when I finish school. A party planner!"

"I'll be happy to give you a good recommendation. Especially if tonight goes as planned that it…" she teased.

Lonnie smiled. "It will."

Audrey sat at her vanity staring at Mal's bra that was lying in front of her. There had to be some way that she could use it to ruin Ben and Mal. "Maybe run it up the flagpole with a flag that says 'Mal's a slut?" she wondered. "No, that was too childish and people would just end up laughing it off. Maybe if Ben found it somewhere it shouldn't be? No. That wouldn't work either. Ben would never believe his perfect little bad girl was sleeping around. Someone else had to find it… but who?" She heard voices in the corridor and realized that they were Evie and Doug. And then there was something that sounded like a good night kiss. "So, those too were getting close too, hmm?" she thought. "That might have some potential. Maybe if Evie found Mal's bra in Doug's bed…. Even if it didn't mess up Mal and Ben, destroying their relationship would have a certain amount of satisfaction." She heard what was definitely a second kiss and then a few whispered 'good nights' from the two of them. "It definitely had possibilities…"

The night got darker as Audrey sat and tried to hammer out a plan. Finally, she gave up scheming for the night and shoved the Mal's bra in a drawer so she wouldn't have to look at it anymore. She went back to looking at herself in the mirror, one of her favorite pastimes. But after a moment, that was ruined as well. She had a multi-mirrored vanity and regardless of how she twisted, she could always see at least two of herself. That used to be really nice but now it just reminded her that Mal had a twin. "There had to be two of them. As if I didn't have enough pain in my life." She said out loud. Talking also reminded her that her lips were sore. Which didn't make any sense. She thought back over what had happened today. She'd gone over to the party and they hadn't hurt. Then she'd fainted, but she'd fallen straight back as far as she could tell. So no reason for her lips to be bruised. Then she'd woken up in the nurse's office where Jay had apparently carried her. That oaf. He'd probably put his hands all over her while he carried her over. She shuddered. "At least I don't remember it." She said and winced. Then she put her hand back to her mouth. "What if he kissed me?" she wondered. Then she screamed.


	22. Chapter 22

Mal was pretending to be asleep when Evie finally returned to their room after her date with Doug. She was so excited for Evie to be embarking on the same adventure that she was. Also, she couldn't wait to tease Evie to within an inch of her life. Evie came through the door humming a happy little tune and then spun in a circle a few times before floating over to her dresser and starting to change for bed. After a few minutes of quiet, she said out loud. "I know you're awake, Mal. You can stop faking."

Mal was a little bit annoyed that Evie had seen through her little ruse. "Well, you seem pretty happy. How did things go with Doug?"

"Things were perfect. Lonnie did an incredible job planning everything. There wasn't a thing that wasn't taken care up. All we had to do was eat and get to know each other better. We talked for very long, long time." Evie sat down on her bed and sighed happily.

"I don't care about talking… I want the juicy stuff. Give!"

"We just talked Mal. And then went for a little walk together. He held my hand. It was so wonderful."

"Did he find some wonderful dark corners for you two to share?" Mal asked, teasingly.

Evie was indignant. "No, he did not. He was a proper gentleman."

Mal sounded skeptical. "He did understand it was a date, right? You got him out of the friend zone?"

Evie looked insulted. "Of course he understood. He's very smart."

Mal tried teasing again. "He's 'very' a lot of things."

"Exactly." Said Evie, thinking Mal was finally taking her seriously. "He's very kind, very polite, very gentle…"

Mal interrupted. "You know, sometimes it's fun when they're not completely gentle. Not actually mean or cruel of course, but the other night Ben pushed me up against the wall and…"

Evie interrupted Mal back. "Yes, I know, you already told me. Twice, actually. But this is about me right now, okay? Doug and I had a very nice time." Evie signed. Mal was just so obsessed with the physical stuff. But right now for Evie, it was a boy getting to know her that was most exciting. No guy had ever taken the trouble to do that. It might never happen again and she really wanted to take her time and enjoy it. Flirting was all well and good but she wanted her relationship to be real. Still, Mal was her best friend, almost like a sister… "Okay, I'll dish. At the end of the evening, I will admit that I was incredibly naughty…"

Mal smiled. This was the good stuff she'd been waiting for. "I knew it! What happened?"

Evie was so proud when she replied. "I let him kiss me."

"That's it? You being 'incredibly naughty' involved one single kiss? Wait, hold on…" Mal smiled, thinking she'd figured out the naughty part. "I've got it. Where exactly did he kiss you?" Mal asked suggestively

"On my mouth. I know it was the first date and everything, and maybe it should have just been the cheek… But well, I just couldn't help myself." Said Evie, blushing.

"One kiss on the lips?" asked Mal, incredulously.

Evie was feeling defensive. She thought her date had been perfect and Mal seemed to want to pick it apart. I mean, what did Mal expect her to have done? It was Evie's first real date. Was she supposed to have taken her top off or something? Grudgingly, she decided to reveal the rest in the hopes that it would make Mal happy. "Actually there were two kisses. The second one was a lot longer and both very were nice."

"Still just on the lips though?" asked Mal, still trying to tease her friend. She didn't understand why this wasn't working. Evie had teased her to heck and back about her dates with Ben and Mal had been expecting a little tit for tat. Unfortunately, neither one of those seemed to have been involved in Evie's evening.

Evie was really annoyed now. She had wanted to tell Mal all about how romantic her evening had been but no matter what she said, it didn't seem to be good enough for her friend. "Yes. Just on the lips! Gosh, Mal, I'm not you!"

That took Mal by surprise. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Evie knew she'd said that wrong but she wasn't sure how to take it back. "It's… Well.. I just meant that I'm not like you. We're different. Just like I said… Everyone is different, right?" Nothing was coming out right and it all sounded terrible. She hoped this would smooth out things with Mal.

Unfortunately, Mal took her reply the wrong way. She pulled herself out of bed and stood up. "I still don't understand. Does that mean you think you're better than me or something?"

Evie was about ready to cry. Her romantic night was being shattered by this stupid fight. And she didn't understand how her evening had somehow ended up being about Mal. But Mal yelling at her broke Evie's last nerve so she finally exploded. "Better than you? No! But everything is about you, Mal, isn't it? That's where the focus has to be, huh? That's the way it was on the Isle and it hasn't changed here. Look, I'm sorry my night wasn't juicy enough for you. But, I'm perfectly happy with what happened. And I'm sorry that I'm not some Miss High and Mighty, boyfriend loved my butt so much he rescued me from exile, lust at first sight, took my top off on the first date ninny!"

Mal wasn't even sure what they were arguing about anymore. And she wanted to make it all stop. But that last statement had really hurt and so her tempter snapped as well. She stood there quivering, trying to absorb everything her friend had just said but she couldn't handle it all. All she could focus on was the last thing Evie had said. Which was wrong. "It was the second date!" she screamed.

The two of them stared at each other, breathing hard. Both of them wanted this behind them but neither knew how apologize and move forward. And they were both ashamed of what they had said but were still so furious at the other that they couldn't admit it. Finally, Evie broke the silence.

"I'm tired and I'm going to bed. If you want to stay up, why don't you go see Ben or something? Maybe he can calm you down." She said, unable to resist getting in one last dig at her friend. She flung herself into her bed and pulled the filmy little curtains shut.

Knowing that if she said anything else while she was this angry, she would cause real damage, Mal threw on a robe and exited the room, slamming the door behind her. She desperately wanted to go talk to Ben. Maybe he could help her understand what had just happened because she didn't have a clue. Maybe it was because she wasn't used to having friends. But after Evie's last comment she didn't want to give the girl the satisfaction of being right. Then she considered going to talk to Doug and figure out where she'd gone wrong but if Evie found out about that, she might really explode. Jay and Carlos would have been just as hopeless with this as she was. Plus she wasn't entirely thrilled with going to see them in a nightshirt and robe. All that was left was her sister. Finally having a direction, she stomped off down the corridor.

Amelia hadn't had the world's best night with her roommate either. She'd noticed Jamie flinching when she moved her back like she was in pain. So much so that Amelia could almost feel the pain herself. She had tried for most of the evening to coax some sort of conversation out of Jamie but after the twentieth time that Jamie had claimed she was fine, Amelia couldn't take it anymore.

"You. Are. Not. Fine." she said carefully. She wanted to go cautiously but at this point, cautious wasn't going to get the job done. "I know you're lying so just stop it. You're in pain somehow. I can tell."

"What makes you think that?" asked Jamie nervously. She tried not to move her sore back as she sat down but she misjudged where the chair was and smacked into it hard. "Bilges!" she barked, pulling back from the hard edge of the chairback."

Amelia just stared at her. "That's what makes me think that. So, what happened?

"I'm fi..." Jamie started, then corrected herself. "I'm okay. Just, umm, pulled a muscle or something. I'm sure I'll be better by morning."

Amelia could tell that wasn't then entire story but at least it was a start. "I'm good with massage. Maybe I can help you or something?"

"No thanks." replied Jamie, trying to cover her nervousness. "Mal's twin massaging me would be a little too weird."

"You could pretend I was someone else or something." suggested Amelia.

"That would be even weirder." replied Jamie. "I'll pass." She went back to staring out the window into the dark night.

Amelia waited for a while. When she figured that Jamie had completely lost track of the world around her, she decided to try talking again. "So, how did you pull that muscle?" asked Amelia, trying to keep the question neutral

"What muscle?" asked Jamie, not paying attention.

"The one in your back..." Amelia said but Jamie's reply had proven her right. There were not any pulled muscles.

"I didn't pull a muscle in my back." she replied absently.

Amelia tried to keep the conversation going in the hopes that Jamie would finally crack. "But you said that you had one about twenty minutes ago...Remember?" said Amelia. As the silence between them began to get longer and longer, Amelia decided to go for broke. "But I didn't believe you then either. What really happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it." replied Jamie defensively.

"No kidding." said Amelia, trying to put as much empathy as she could in her voice. "But maybe it isn't 'want' that's the issue. Maybe it's 'need'. Come one. Whatever is going on, you don't have to face it alone. You have friends now. You can trust me."

Jamie laughed derisively. "I have friends? I've been here a day. And I should trust you? You?! The girl who apparently spent the last two years of her live hiding from the world? I don't think so."

Amelia took a deep breath. "There was a reason I left town.t." she said simply.

"Care to tell me about it?" asked Jamie.

Amelia thought about it. She wanted Jamie to trust her and maybe telling her the truth about what happened was the way to get that trust. So she explained everything that had happened.

Jamie just shook her head. "So the going got tough and you just ran away?" said Jamie, taking the story from the worst possible angle. "That won't work for me. I'm a pirate. I don't run from anything."

"Yes you do." replied Amelia. "In fact, you're running right now. Tell me what's going on and maybe you can stop. Please…."

"Maybe I don't want to stop!" she replied angrily.

"So you admit that you're runn..." Amelia began but stopped when she saw the look of vulnerability finally appear on Jamie's face. She trailed off into silence in the hopes that Jamie would finally tell her the truth.

A couple of tears had rolled down Jamie's cheek before she managed to speak again. She wanted to tell Amelia what going on but she was just too scared. Would she believe her? Would she care? It was too hard to take that chance. Especially not with someone she barely knew. She pulled her dignity together and tried to sound cold. "I'm not admitting anything other than the fact that I want the heck out of this room!" She grabbed her jacket, stalked to the door and then stormed out.

Amelia sighed. She'd been so close. But she knew there was something eating at her roommate and she was going to figure it out if it was the last thing she did.

There was a knock at her door. Amelia went over to it in the hopes that Jamie was there and just couldn't find the courage to come back in on her own. But instead she found her sister.

Mal just stood there. "Hi, sis. Are you up for some company?"

Amelia looked at the stress lines etched into that familiar face. "Sure. I'm guessing your night has been worse than mine."

"Probably." Said Mal as she came in the door.


	23. Chapter 23

Jamie ran through the corridors looking for access to the roof. She didn't want to face the eyes of her roommate who already seemed to know what had happened to her. She wanted to be outside. She wanted to feel the wind on her face. Her preference would have been to be at the top of a mast in the crow's nest. Even though they didn't have a ship on the Isle, her father had a mast sticking out of their house with a tiny cupola on top. It had been Jamie's favorite place to play when she was little and, as things grew more stressful and her father's temper had gotten worse, it also became the best possible place to hide from his wrath. Her father might not be here to hurt her anymore but as long as the bruises still hurt it was like he was still standing over her. She found a small doorway with a steep staircase behind it and automatically headed up. The stairs switched back and forth several times and she had started to wonder how much farther they could go when they finally opened out onto the roof. She walked to the edge and looked over. It felt good to see the world reduced in size. It kept her from feeling so insignificant. She had almost calmed down when she heard someone clear their throat.

Carlos had been up on the room watching the stars. He'd loved the stars when he'd still been on the Isle. They represented wishes. They were freedom. They were where he wanted to go whenever his mother had gone on another tirade about evil dogs or made him care for her hand and foot. She'd spent so much time smothering him that all he wanted to be was outside. Even though he was free of her, he still liked how it felt and so, feeling a little bit lonely tonight, he'd decided to come up and enjoy the view. He'd expected it to help him feel better. He hadn't expected anyone to join him. He'd been lying on his back when Jamie had come running out of the roof access door and passed within inches of him as she went to the edge of the roof. He wasn't sure what she was about but he could tell that she was upset. He'd clearly seen a tear running down her face when she'd passed by him. It had been like the moment had frozen in his memory. This perfect tear had run down her face and he imagined that he could see the stars reflected within it. He wanted to call out to her but once she was so close to the edge, he was afraid he might startle her. He decided to make a bit of noise to get her attention.

"Who's there?" said Jamie defensively as she scrubbed away the tears on her cheeks.

"It's me. Carlos." He replied. "I'm just up here enjoying the view."

Jamie tried to flirt. "How could you enjoy the view? I wasn't here yet." She tried to wiggle a bit suggestively but the need to sniffle her nose foiled the effect. "Never mind." She said as she walked over and sat next to him. "What were you looking at?"

"The stars. I love to look at them when I'm feeling lonely. It's like they're always there, you know?"

Jamie nodded. Carlos was so calm and non-imposing that she decided to let down her guard for a while. She'd known him a bit on the Isle and he'd never gotten up to the type of cruel hijinks that some of the others had done. She leaned herself back on her hands as he pulled himself into a sitting position. "Pirates… Well, all sailors… We love the stars. When we're out in the big empty ocean, they help us to find our way to where we want to go. And when we're ready to go home, they guide us there too. That is, if we have a home."

"How do they do that?" he asked. In truth, he already understood how navigating worked. But he sensed that Jamie need to talk and this seemed to be the best way to get that going.

Jamie seized on the opportunity to let out some of the loneliness in her soul and began to explain how the North Star worked, and how you could use a sextant to help you figure out where you were going. They both giggled a bit at the word sextant and Jamie relaxed a little more. Then she mentioned the name of one of the constellations and Carlos asked her to explain all of them as well. After they'd been talking for over an hour, Jamie realized that he wasn't paying perfect attention to her but still seemed to be understanding what she was saying. "You already know all of this, don't you?" she accused.

Carlos shrugged. "Not in quite so much detail, but yes I do."

Jamie was confused. "Then why did you ask? And why did you let me blather on?"

"You needed to talk. Or maybe you needed someone to listen more than you actually needed to talk."

"I did. Thank you. But maybe it's your turn to talk?" she asked. The look in his face said yes more than any words ever could. Carlos told her about how he'd grown up. He explained how his mother had treated him and kept him in constant fear. He talked about the losing himself in science or electronics or even just the stars in the sky. Jamie was happy she return the favor of listening to a lonely soul that needed someone to talk to. In fact, she was starting to like this quiet little man and she decided it was time to take a chance. "I'm starting to feel a little cold. Can you come a bit closer?" she patted the roof next to her. "Maybe we could sit together? No funny stuff!" she added defensively. She was not up for some kind of make out session. "But maybe we could be warmer together?"

"Sounds good." He said. He scooted closer and held out his arm.

Smiling, she gladly leaned into his should and sighed. Actually, that was what she had intended to do. What she actually did was cry out in pain as soon as his arm brushed against her back.

Carlos scooted away, a hurt look on his face. "Look, I'm sorry." He said, trying to scramble to his feet. "Please don't be mad or hurt me or… You asked me do that, okay?" He was so confused by the reaction on Jamie's face. It wasn't like he'd tried to kiss her or something. "I'll leave you alone or maybe get you a blanket or…"

Jamie interrupted him. She couldn't let him go on any longer thinking he'd done something wrong when she'd just forgotten how much her back still hurt. "It's not you. I'm sorry. It's just… Well, I hurt my back and I'd kind of forgotten about it. Just come sit down here again and I'll figure out a way to be comfortable."

Warily, Carlos came back over to her and let her lean against him. He was very careful not to get too close to any squishy bits when he put his arm around her, lest she think he was trying to take advantage of her or something. She finally got comfortable and he found himself stroking her hair while she lay against him. He desperately wanted to know how she'd gotten hurt. He just knew that it wasn't some fall or some fancy tale of daring do gone wrong. She'd have told him the story if it was something like that. He wavered back and forth on what to say and finally decided. "What happened?" he asked, leaving the question as open as possible. This way she could tell him whatever she was ready to tell him without feeling forced. She stiffened in his arms and he was afraid that even that question had been too much. And when she pulled away from him, he was sure of it. He was about to start apologizing again when she began to do the strangest thing. She started tugging on her shirt as if she intended to take it off.

Jamie was trying to decide whether she should tell Carlos about her father and the abuse when he suddenly asked her that open question. It was like he was reading her mind and for a minute, she was afraid that he was somehow doing just that. There was magic in this world; he could actually be reading her mind. But his hurt reaction told her that she wasn't and, well, she'd told him so many other things, tonight, it felt like it wouldn't be quite so difficult to tell him one more. But as she tried to form the words in her mind she found that she didn't know how to start the conversation. And she was desperately afraid that even if she started, she'd chicken out before she explained it all. There was only one way to prevent that. She had to show him. She moved carefully away from him and started pulling at her shirt to show him the bruises. It hurt so much to move that she was just starting to consider asking him to help her when she caught his confused gaze. She looked down at her hands and realized what he must be thinking. "This is probably isn't what you're expecting and I'm sorry if it's disappointing but I just want you to see my back. I have a bra on so you won't see anything else. Can you help me please? This really hurts."

Carlos came over to assist her, carefully making sure that his fingers never touched her skin. When her shirt came loose and fell softly to the roof, he finally had a good look at her back. Welts ran diagonally across it. They were still a little puffy and green and black bruising ran along the edges of them. "What did…" he groped for a specific word and failed. "that."

"A belt." She said, matter of factly. She was surprised at how clear her voice was. She'd expected to start sobbing over this but somehow it didn't seem to be necessary. It was time to tell someone and nothing was going to stop her. "My father's belt. He told me to steal him a ship and get him off the Isle. This was a reminder of what he'd do if I failed him."

Carlos nodded. He understood this. Not the physical part exactly, but the threat and the fear. "We were supposed to get our parents Fairy Godmother's wand. We decided not to. I'm not sure what they would do if they ever got a hold of us again but I expect it would be something like that. Maybe worse. Those look bad. Do you want to go see the nurse or…"

"I'm okay. They'll heal." Said Jamie. "They always did when I was little."

"So this isn't the first time?" asked Carlos.

"Nope. Not even close. It's been several years since the last time but it used to be a regular occurrence."

"Why did he stop for so long?"

"I threatened to expose him as a coward. I proved to him that if he messed with me again I'd tell the world."

Carlos snapped his fingers. "When you were younger, that day you came to school without a shirt. You were all banged up. Did he do it that time?"

Jamie nodded. "That's how I convinced him I wasn't kidding. It didn't exactly work out the way I'd planned it however. It got me a reputation as a wild girl and after a while, that was a safer thing to be. But it kept him from hurting me again until just before I came to Auradon."

"So what are you going to do?" asked Carlos carefully.

"I'm not going to get him a ship, if that's what you're asking. But I'm going to get revenge for what he's done to me."

"Is that the best plan?"

"Maybe not, but it's the pirate way."

"Maybe my friends and I could.." Carlos tried.

"No. I told you but that doesn't give you the right to tell anyone else. Promise me you'll keep it a secret. Please."

Carlos agreed, knowing that this little window into her soul would be permanently closed if he broke that promise.

They sat there in the quiet again. Jamie was starting to miss how nice it had felt to have him holding her. But she was scared to admit that so she went down the easy path. "I'm getting cold again. Could you keep me warm like you did before?" He nodded and she eased herself back into his arms. It felt so nice. Too nice, in fact. His hands stroking her hair were so gentle. And his arm against her side began to warm her up in other ways. Aching to not feel lonely anymore, she turned her head toward his and reached up to pull him into a kiss. However, his head didn't move.

Carlos shook his head no. "I want to, but no. Tomorrow, maybe. When you're not so vulnerable and you're not flying high on endorphins and emotions. If you still want to kiss me after all of that is gone, then I'd be honored and happy to accept."

Jamie smiled. This was what she wanted. To be with someone who wouldn't take advantage of her even if she asked. She hadn't know that she had wanted it but she did now. It was almost enough to make her consider giving up on her revenge. Almost… But not quite. Still, it made her very happy. She snuggled into his arms even further, ignoring the pain still coming from her back. Pain didn't matter. It only made you stronger. She took a minute to wrap her arms around Carlos as well and then started to really relax. When she was almost asleep, she looked up at him. "If I ask you to kiss me in the morning, will you?" she asked.

"Happily" he said, once again stroking her hair. "Goodnight."


	24. Chapter 24

Jamie woke to birds singing and sunshine so bright that she didn't even consider opening her eyes. At first, she wasn't sure where she was. Why was she outside? She tried to move but something was holding her in place. It wasn't unpleasant though so she didn't worry about it at first. She tried to stretch her back a little and was relieved to find that it didn't hurt as much as it had the day before. "All wounds heal" she thought. "The ones outside just tend to do so a little faster than the ones inside." She shifted a little bit more and then froze when she heard a groan almost in her ear.

Carlos blinked in the bright sunlight and looked down at the pretty girl lying in his arms. At some point in the evening she'd finally gotten cold enough that she'd put her shirt back on. But she'd still sleepily insisted that he hold her and he'd been way too excited to refuse. She looked peaceful. She looked happy. Those were two things he'd never seen in Jamie before. Even on the Isle, she'd always been this wild thing that was never satisfied with what she had. There had always been pain behind the fake smile plastered to the front of her face. And every ribald comment had a core of insecurity hiding behind it.

But now here he was holding her and watching her while she started to wake. It was almost more than he was willing to believe. He'd never thought a cute girl like this would be interested in him. He was the friend. He was the guy who fixed your computer when it broke in the hopes that you'd still talk to him after it was fixed. He couldn't deny it now though. Beautiful Jamie was lying in his arms while a glorious day started all around him.

She'd tried to kiss him last night and it had been so tempting to let her. But he couldn't be that jerk who would take advantage of someone when they were down or depressed. Even if it meant he'd never get a girl to kiss him, he still wasn't willing to cross that line. But she'd talked about kissing him this morning and he hoped that she still wanted to. With a decent night's sleep under her belt, he was willing to trust that she was kissing him because she really wanted to.

Jamie finally found the courage to open her eyes in the bright sunshine. She was still feeling fogged by sleep but figured it was time to get going. When they finally adjusted to the glare, she found that she was staring into Carlos's large dark eyes. "Hi…" she managed to say. Carlos grinned at her.

"Good morning." He replied as he loosened his hold on her.

As Carlos's arms slackened on her, some of her security and peace fell away with them. A tremendous vulnerability took their place. She couldn't exactly remember everything that had happened last night. She remembered that she'd shared what her father had done to her and that he had told her about how his mother had treated him. She knew that she trusted him and that he had proven to be a wonderful friend. But it still seemed like there was something that she'd wanted to do as soon as she woke up. Staring into his eyes, however, the memory stayed just out of reach. It was annoying because whatever she was forgetting seemed to have been very important. But it just wasn't coming to her and so she pushed herself gently free of his arms and pulled herself to her feet. He seemed disappointed when she stood, which picked at that missing memory even more. So she held her arm out to him and helped him to his feet. They stood there staring at each other. Her hand was still wrapped in his and for a moment she indulged in a little bit of happiness and let it stay then. Then she pulled it out of his grasp and looked at him expectantly. Maybe he would give her a hint as to what she was forgetting.

Carlos's mood slipped a little when Jamie pulled her hand away. It looked like he wasn't going to get that kiss after all. He tried not to feel too disappointed. He'd meant it when he'd said he wanted to wait until she was sure she wanted to kiss him. Still, he'd been pretty much expected her to have woken him with that kiss this morning and the fact that she hadn't stung a bit. Unable to think of any way to bring the subject up, he decided to say something safe. "Did you sleep okay?" he asked.

Jamie nodded. "I slept fine. Better than I did that first night in my room with Amelia." Her face froze. "Oh no. Amelia. She'll see that my bed hasn't been slept in. She'll think that I… that we…" Her eyes darted back to Carlos's as she patted to see if her clothes were all in place. "We didn't, did we?" she asked, afraid to find out she'd just participated in her first one night stand. Carlos shook his head negatively and she knew that he was telling the truth. The boy had never really learned to lie. "Oh good. Look, umm… I've got to run. I've got to get back to my room and… I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but I've got to do it before Amelia wakes up and knows I didn't make it back last night." She turned to go and then noticed that Carlos was still looking at her expectantly. "Was there something you wanted?" she asked.

Carlos almost asked for that kiss. He thought about it. He considered it. He was sorely tempted. But he didn't want anything that wasn't freely offered. "No. I'm good." He replied lamely.

Jamie nodded at him in her panic. "Excellent. Well, I'm sure I'll see you around or something." And with that she went darting toward the stairs down from the roof. It wasn't until she'd gotten back to her room and feeling guilty about all the things that Amelia might think that she'd done before she remembered wanting to kiss Carlos this morning. That had been why he'd been staring at her like that. She almost went to find him and fix her mistake but somehow now that the moment was broken, she didn't have the courage to just walk up and kiss him.

Carlos had almost kicked himself when Jamie went running for the access door. "I'm good?" he thought to himself. "That's the best I could come up with?" He stared after her mournfully. He'd slept with his first girl. Actual sleep, not… other stuff. He'd expected there to be a bit more to show for the occasion. "Still, why would any girl want to kiss my anyway?" he thought disconsolately. "I'm not the Prince or the leading man. I'm just the friend who helps them pick up the pieces." Sighing, he gathered his things and headed down to his room.

Mal and Evie had woken up about the same time and started getting ready for class. Neither one of them spoke. It was as if they'd both agreed that they weren't ready to discuss last night. Both of them were feeling guilty about their fight, but as the silence stretched longer and longer, their courage to break that silence and apologize got weaker and weaker. Finally, they finished getting dressed and headed out toward breakfast without so much as a single word passing between them.

Once they got to the dining hall, they managed normal conversation again. But it was as if they'd missed the only opportunity they'd had to apologize to each other and now it was time to just pretend it hadn't happened.

Jay was out for his morning run when he saw someone unfamiliar up ahead of him. Jay was really moving so they'd probably started a long time before he had. Still, the competitor inside of him just had to kick in that extra burst of speed to catch up, or even better, to pass them. As Jay pulled even with the stranger, he discovered it wasn't a stranger at all. It was Jack. When Jay drew even with him, Jack noticed him and decided to kick it into gear as well. The two of them pumped their way around the running track three more times before Jay finally got a stitch in his side and had to slow down. When he saw that he'd beaten him, Jack slowed down as well until the two of them were just walking slowly and trying to recover from their run. Jay looked over at Jack. "You're the first person over in Auradon who can beat me." He said, still catching his breath.

Jack grinned. "It wasn't by much. I was about to give when you finally slowed. Do you do this every morning?"

Jay nodded, trying to catch his breath. "My usual running partner didn't show up." Jay said. "I usually run with Prince Charming Junior, also known as Chad."

Jack looked at him strangely. "You're friends with a Charming?"

Jay shook his head. "What? Did they cut out your brains when they cut off all of that hair? No, Chad and I are not friends. Not even remotely. But I enjoy beating him into the dirt every morning and he's dumb enough to think that if he just keeps at it, he'll beat me one of these days. Sometimes I let him come really close to winning and then pass him at the last second just to leave him with some false hope.

"Evil. I like that. Now that makes more sense. Does Carlos run with you too?" Jack asked.

"Sometimes. He's faster than I am in a sprint but he doesn't have the staying power. After a couple of hundred yards he's pretty much done. But when I woke up this morning, his bed hadn't been slept in."

"Are you worried? Shouldn't we try to find him?"

Jay laughed. "Nah. If he was in trouble, I'm sure we all would have been pulled out of bed to answer for his crimes. That's kind of how it works here right now. One of us from the Isle messes up and all of us end up answering for it. So, that means he must have found a nicer place to sleep last night. Maybe he even had company. So I'm not going to try to find him and mess that up for him, if you know what I mean."

"So you're saying Carlos might have found a girl? And you're serious? Who?" Jack couldn't believe it.

"I have no idea but anything's possible. There are all kinds of nice girls in this school and a lot of them have it bad for us mysterious guys from the Isle. One of them is bound to be attracted to little runty nerds as well."

Both of them laughed. "If so, she's probably some runty little nerd too. So, tell me about the hot girls here. I'm sure there must be some." said Jack hungrily.

"They're harder to find but worth the effort." joked Jay. "Why? Is that why you came over? Girls?"

"No, not really." Jack said, trying to downplay it. "But it's a nice benefit. I mean, I wouldn't push them out of bed or anything but I'm just here to escape my mother. Now that I've done that, I'm looking for opportunities to put together a cushy kind of life."

"Can't argue with that." Jay stretched a little and then looked at Jack, his eyes narrowing. "Race you. Two laps – full speed… Loser has to eat the other's socks?"

A small cruel gleam came into Jack's eyes. He shook his head no. "Loser has to find the winner a date"

You're on. But you've only been here a couple of days. How do you think you're going to find me a date?"

"I won't have to. I'm not going to lose." Jack said, and then kicked himself into motion.

Chad glanced over at Audrey lying on the pillow next to him. Then he looked at the clock. "Darn it, you're making me miss my morning run with Jay."

"Why would you want to run with him when you could be here with me?" Audrey asked, confused.

"Because I want to beat him. I want to see his face when I grind him into the pavement."

Audrey smiled. She was hoping there was still some animosity there. "I guess that means that you're still up for messing with Mal and her friends?" Audrey asked carefully. "Maybe play a little joke on them?" She needed Chad's help but he was notoriously lazy. She'd have to trick him into it. Luckily that wouldn't be too tough because he was also notoriously stupid.

"Once a villain, always a villain. That's what my folks say."

Since Audrey agreed with the sentiment, she decided not to point out that technically none of the kids were villains. "Perfect." She turned her head and pretended to look in the mirror across the room. "Have you met Amelia yet?"

"Nope, but I heard she's an exact copy of Mal."

"Pretty much. Only one of them is pink and one purple. That's what gave me this wonderful idea. I want you to go give her a dose of the 'Charming charm'. You can do that, right?"

"Sure. No one has ever resisted it before. Not even you…." He said arrogantly.

Audrey shuddered thinking about what's she'd had to do last night for him to wake up in such a receptive mood. It had been disgusting but necessary. She needed him to do the dirty work so that she could look like the good girl when all was said and done. So she put on a fake smile and nodded at him. "What I want you to do is to find her and see if you can't get your arms around her. Maybe even manage to kiss her or something. I'll hide and take pictures of it all and then put those pictures in the computer. A little bit of editing and the hair will be purple instead of pink. Then I'll release the pictures. You'll be famous as the guy who stole the King's girl. And Mal will be disgraced. Ben will either have to dump her or abdicate the throne. And Benny boo will never dump his precious bad girl so we'll finally be in control again."

"Why would we be in control?" Chad asked confused.

"Because my family is next in line for the throne. When Ben steps down, my daddy will take over." Audrey explained patiently.

"But what does that do for me?" asked Chad.

Audrey tried not to groan at how stupid Chad was. Still, it was a good thing he was dumb because she was about to lie through her teeth. "Because I'll marry you, silly. And then you'll be King. And you'll be able to do whatever you want after that."

Amelia woke up late the next morning. She and Mal had enjoyed a wonderful conversation last night, finally reconnecting as sisters. Mal had headed back to her own room very late and Amelia had basically collapsed on her bed to sleep. When she awoke, she noticed that some of Jamie's things had moved. Jamie's covers were also messed up but Amelia didn't think that they'd actually been slept in. That meant Jamie had come back to the room at some point but Amelia didn't know if it was to sleep or whether she'd just come back in the morning to grab a change of clothes and brush her teeth. She suspected the latter. Amelia cursed herself for not being more aware. Her roommate had some serious issues going on and eventually they were going to catch up to her. Amelia wanted to be there to cushion the fall if she could.

She dressed carefully for the day and headed over to her locker. She grabbed her books and was just heading to class when something tall and dark blocked her light. She shut the locker door and realized that Prince Charming Jr. was leaning against the lockers next to her. He smiled at her. A big smile with dazzling white teeth. She figured that she was supposed to be impressed but she wasn't. So she just stared back at him.

"Hey, miss pretty in pink. How about you and I go find a quiet place and find out what other parts of you are pink?" he said, trying to sound seductive.

Audrey almost banged her head into the wall from her place of concealment. She'd known this wasn't going to go perfectly but she'd expected him to be at least a little be better at seduction than he was proving to be. Maybe she should have written him out a script… Still, she was hoping that she'd get something usable as she pointed the camera at Chad and Amelia again.

Amelia just stared at Chad. She couldn't quite believe he'd said what he'd said because no sane person would have been that rude or that crude. "Do I want to what?" she asked, assuming that she must have misunderstood him. Chad then went on to detail exactly what he thought the two of them should go do. He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world and that any girl would have been honored to find a quiet corner and get mauled by him. The more he talked, the more she started to grin. Because the suggestion that she'd ever do ANY of those things with him was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. So, I'm a pretty pink rose and you want to check out my flower, is that it?" she asked hoping that she could keep the laughter out of her voice for at least a few more minutes.

"Like, definitely!" said Chad.

"You do know that roses have thorns, right?" she asked as if she was teasing a lover. "Are you prepared to handle my thorns?"

Chad grinned. "I'm prepared to handle anything." He bragged. Chad couldn't believe his luck. As he had explained all of the naughty things that he and Amelia could go do, the smile on her face had just gotten bigger and bigger. This was going to be so amazing. Audrey would get what she wanted, he'd get a little action, and then he'd get to be King. This plan was brilliant. He held out his arm. "Are you ready?" he asked, trying to put a bit of gallantry behind it.

"Oh yes." Smiled Amelia. "I am definitely ready." And she put her hand on his arm.

Now it was Audrey who couldn't believe her luck. That pink haired slut had actually accepted Chad's clumsy attempt at a seduction. She known in her heart that girl was no good the first time she'd seen her. She raised her camera to get the first few pictures. She had just started to focus on them when suddenly Chad disappeared out of the frame. A sudden cry may her look up from the camera viewfinder just in time to see Chad's head bouncing off the lockers. In horror, she watched Amelia spinning Chad back around and then sending him hurtling across the hallway into a trashcan. Her plan was ruined but at least she hadn't been caught.

Amelia picked up her book bag and casually strolled away. She didn't want to hurt people but she was proud of the fact that she could defend herself now without needing her sister's intervention.

Ben was surprised when the knock on his door that morning turned out to be Doug. He waved him inside and went back to trying to find the shoes that he'd kicked off the night before. Finally locating them, he sat down to put them on. "What's going on?" he asked his friend.

Doug nervously cleared his throat. "I.. umm, I had a date with Evie last night."

Ben laughed. "I know. Lonnie told me about what she arranged for you two."

"I didn't know it was going to be a date."

Ben stopped for a moment. "Was it a problem?" he asked.

"No. Not at all. Just that, ummm…."

"Just that it wasn't what you were expecting?" Ben asked. Doug nodded. Ben went on. "That's probably a good thing. I think it's when you get too many expectations stuck in your head that things go wrong."

"I kissed her goodnight. Twice. But I didn't do anything else…. Do you think she was upset that I wasn't more bold?"

Ben thought about it. "Did she seem upset?" he asked.

Doug shook his head. "Actually, she seemed really happy and almost breathless."

"Then I think congratulations are in order. I believe you have yourself a girlfriend."


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jamie was physically abused by her father when she was younger but convinced him to stop for the last few years – right up until she was about to leave for Auradon when he beat her back black and blue. He threatened that she'd better find him a ship so he could escape the Isle but Jamie has no intention of ever releasing her father from that prison. Amelia noticed that Jamie's back was sore a few chapters ago and confronted her. Jamie refused to talk about it and ran out of the room, eventually finding Carlos along on the roof.

Jamie spent the rest of the day feeling like she was sitting on pins and needles. The kiss she'd promised Carlos that she'd inadvertently forgotten about weighed on her mind. She knew it must be bothering him too because it would have been driving her batty. She knew what it felt like to have someone promise something and not deliver it. Her father had been doing that to her all of her life and she knew that Carlos's mother had done the same to him. Carlos had been so sweet when he said he wanted to be sure that her kissing him wasn't just crazy emotions and the passion of a moment. And she knew that if she'd changed her mind, he would have totally understood. He didn't just expect something from her and that made him even more amazing in her eyes. The thing was, she hadn't changed her mind and she hadn't talked to him about it. Bottom line, she still wanted to kiss him. She had just been a little bit of forgetful and then a whole lot of chicken.

Jamie also realized from her own experiences that disappointments tended to convince you that you hadn't deserved the thing in the first place. That meant that instead of blaming the person who had broken their promise, you blamed yourself for somehow not being worthy of that promise. It was vicious and icky and just made you want to scream at the world. She'd made a practice of never doing that sort of thing to anyone but the first time that she finally got to know a good guy, she'd managed to treat him terribly. She wasn't sure how to fix it but she knew that she needed to do so fast.

As it got farther into the afternoon, she started to think that maybe she was blowing all of this out of proportion. Maybe she was just telegraphing onto Carlos how she would feel in his place and it wasn't how he would feel at all. She could just be imagining that he would feel that way about her. She'd just convinced herself of that when she happened to pass Carlos in the hallway between classes. He'd tried to wave in a friendly manner but she could see that his heart wasn't in it. He'd looked like he wanted to talk but as soon as they got close enough to hear each other, he bolted. That was telling all in itself, like he wasn't sure she'd want to talk to him and he didn't want to inflict his presence on her. Once school got out, she knew that he'd be headed to Tourney practice so she just headed back to her room to mope and do her homework. Probably in that order.

She'd just gotten settled when Amelia had joined her and cheerily suggested that they work on their Remedial Goodness 101 homework. This wasn't too back because Amelia seemed to be a real natural at it and before Jamie knew what had happened, all their work was done and she was sitting across the table from Amelia who was staring at her intently.

Uncomfortable, Jamie looked down and fiddled with her pencil a bit. When she looked back up, she was hoping that Amelia had found something to do other than stare at her. She hadn't. But seeing that Jamie wasn't about to start the conversation, she did.

"Your back seems to be better. How did you sleep last night?" Amelia asked,

"Yeah, it's better. I slept fine" Said Jamie, trying to put the matter to rest.

"Oh my pink. I'm sorry, I asked the wrong question. I meant to ask where did you sleep last night?" Amelia smiled while she asked the question.

"I… Um…."

Amelia saw the concern. "Look, something's going on and you need help. I know you do. If you don't want to tell me about it, that's okay. But you need to tell someone. Would you perhaps like to talk to my sister instead? She could help in ways that I can't. She's got the ear of the king after all… And any other part of him that she wants." Amelia threw in the last bit in the hopes that she'd get a smile out of Jamie. She didn't.

Jamie didn't know how to answer but the fear was clear in her eyes. "No… No way."

Amelia didn't like seeing that fear. "Look, I'm not my sister, okay? I'm not going to force you to tell me what is going on. I know that's what you're used to from Isle, people forcing you to do things. Heck, my sister isn't even that person anymore. This place has changed her. Everything you know about either one of us is based on how you saw us on the Isle. Heads up - we're not there anymore. And you're not either. You can't just exist like you did there, just trying to survive. It's time to live. It's time to have friends. It's time to trust someone." Amelia saw Jamie's eyes twitch when she said 'trust' and she knew she'd found an opening in that formidable armor against the world. "I understand if you're not ready to tell me what's going on but did you find someone else to talk to after you left? Someone you were ready to trust?"

Jamie didn't know why but she nodded yes.

"Can I ask who?" presses Amelia.

"Carlos. That's why I was out so late. I, umm, I slept with him last night." At Amelia's suddenly raised eyebrow, Jamie rushed to explain further. "Nothing happened! I mean, we talked. A lot. We've been though some similar things. And then it got cold and I was tired of being alone so he held me for a while. It felt so nice that fell asleep." Jamie's eyes were shining a bit. "No funny business went on, I swear."

Amelia sensed there was something in the way that Jamie was protesting that didn't quite ring true. "Nothing? Not even a kiss."

Jamie looked away and rubbed at her eyes. "Not even a kiss." she said sadly.

Amelia noticed the change in mood. "Did you want there to be a kiss?" she asked. When Jamie whipped her head back around and stared at her in shock, Amelia knew she'd hit pay dirt. "What happened?"

"I, well… I tried to kiss him but he said he didn't want to while I was so upset. He didn't want to take advantage of me."

"Sounds like he's a good guy then. So, what went wrong?"

"I asked him if I could kiss him in the morning if I still wanted to. He said he'd like that. But when I woke up this morning, I forgot all about it. I mean, I still wanted to kiss him but I was so worried about getting back down here that it was all I was thinking about. I missed my chance. So, now he's trying to be all good and noble but I can tell that it hurt him some that I didn't even mention it before I left. I don't even remember if I said thank you to him for taking care of me. And I don't know how to get back into the right mood and place where kissing him would be special. I'm doomed." Jamie finally gave up and let the tears run down her face.

Amelia thought about it for a moment. "You care about him, right?" she asked. Jamie nodded. "And from what you've said, I can tell that he cares about you. Which means that you don't really have a problem."

"I don't?" asked Jamie. She was afraid almost afraid to let herself hope.

"Nope. All you need to do is arrange to be alone with him again… and this time don't run away before your heart leads you to where you want to go."

Jamie walked nervously around the roof. She'd put a note under Carlos's door telling him to meet her on the roof tonight. It wasn't that original but she hoped recreating their experience might get them back to the same level of intimacy that they'd had the night before. Hopefully without her having any sort of breakdown, which wasn't looking all that likely at the moment. She just kept moving, trying to calm herself down by being in motion. As the shadows lengthened and sun started to set, she began to get worried. "What if the note had gotten lost?" she wondered. "Guy's rooms can be pretty messy and it could have just gotten shoved under something.. Gosh, why didn't I get someone to deliver it to him, or, even better, tell him in person…."

Then a more insidious thought worked its way into her heart. "What if he'd read it and decided not to come… What if he was too mad or hurt or…"

Her panicked thoughts were dispelled when the access door opened and Carlos came through. Jamie crowed in triumph and then went hurtling across the roof toward him, pinned him back against the door and kissed him. After a moment, she realized the audacity of what she'd just done and pulled back. She was blushing profusely. "Sorry. Umm, I was supposed to do that this morning but I got kind of side tracked and…" she trailed off just staring into his dark eyes and trying to comprehend how he must be feeling. "Hi?" she asked, unable to come up with anything else to say.

Carlos shook his head but couldn't stop grinning. "Hi." He replied. "I'm glad I got your note. Hey, was that just a kiss you thought you owed me from this morning or was it mo…."

His words were cut off when Jamie pounced on him and just started kissing him again. It wasn't passionate kissing, although there was the potential for it to grow into that someday. It was happy kissing. Laughing and tickling were wrapped around it like a beautiful bow. And for at least a little while, Jamie let go of all the resentment, anger, and pain that her father's abuse had brought into her life. There wasn't any worry or pressure about where any of this was going to go next or what it might mean for her future. She let all of that go and gave herself permission to be happy. And deep in her heart, she could tell that Carlos was doing the same thing.


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pinksakura271's is being a wonderful help in integrating her OC character into the story. I really appreciate it. 
> 
> Summary of what has happened previously that is important to this chapter: Mal and Evie had a fight after Evie's first date. Both said things they regret but somehow they managed to just move on without actually apologizing. Audrey had offered herself as a bribe to Chad to get him to seduce Amelia but that plan failed. Jamie and Carlos bonded over their similar abuse experiences and have gotten closer and closer. Jack has been spending a lot of time with Jay with the two of them generally concentrating on finding a good party or some girls to spend time with. School is taking over their lives and keeping them from being as close as they used to be.

Audrey was about to go out of her mind. Her attempts at kingdom domination weren't going anywhere. In fact, a few weeks had gone by since Chad's abysmal attempt at seducing Amelia. Audrey hadn't gotten a single useful picture out of that whole fiasco and she hadn't come up with any new ways to discredit Ben or Mal since. Her little grapevine had told her that Mal and Evie had a fight about the same time as the seduction attempt but other than the two of them being a little less chummy, Audrey couldn't see that there was any difference in their behavior. Carlos and Jamie had become inseparable in a way that even she had to admit was cute. It was also annoying and sickening. Some part of Audrey wanted to destroy it because if she couldn't be happy, then no one should be. Mal was splitting her time pretty equally between her sister and Ben. Everyone seemed happy there too, which just infuriated Audrey even more. Ben wasn't showing any sign that he was tired of being with a bad girl and that it was time to get back with her. Speaking of being with her, Chad had finally given up hoping that she'd give him another taste of herself and gone back to scamming Tourney groupies. His companions on those little adventures tended to be Jay and Jack, which Audrey had given up on trying to understand. Nothing was working out well at all.

Her luck changed when she heard an interesting conversation out in the hallway. It was Jay and Carlos. She moved closer to the door to listen.

"Could you maybe disappear for a while this evening? I mean, like, stay away from our room for a few hours?" asked Carlos nervously.

Jay looked seriously at his roommate. "And why would I do that again?" he asked.

"I, umm, just want some privacy. Okay?" Carlos replied nervously.

"Why don't you just go up to the roof if you want privacy?" asked Jay.

"We tried that. Suddenly everyone and my dog seems to want to be on the roof."\

"Even Dude is following you up there?" asked Jay incredulously. Then he realized he'd missed something more important than that. "Hold on. You said 'we', not 'I'. You're trying to bring Jamie back to our room, aren't you?" he asked, grinning. Teasing his little roomie about this was going to be too much fun. "Carlos and Jamie, sitting in a tree…"

Carlos shushed him while looking around to make sure that no one had heard him. "Yes, that's kind of the idea. And we tried a tree too, but it's hard to kiss and balance."

Jay caught Carlos' serious tone and gave up the teasing. "Are you two planning to…" he just let the sentence trail off.

"Probably not but we'd still like some time to ourselves. Really, I don't know for but. Jamie is the one pushing this so I guess it will be up to her."

"Then why don't you use her room?" asked Jay.

"We tried. But it's like Amelia is psychic or something. Their room could be empty for most of the day but as soon as we try to sneak over there, Amelia arrives and orders me out because she needs to change or something. I swear that girl goes through five outfits a day…" Carlos said, trying to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

"Yeah, I can find somewhere else to hang." replied Jay. But you owe me."

Carlos cleared his voice nervously. "Do you, umm, well, when you're like with a girl… How do you make sure she'd having a good time?"

Jay shrugged. "If they're with me, of course they're having a good time. You might need some help though."

"So you'll help?" asked Carlos hopefully.

"Not me. I don't think I could teach you how to be this…." And he gestured at himself. "Try asking Mal. She spend enough time with Ben that's she'd bound to have picked up a few things she likes. I imagine Jamie will like the same. So how long do you need me to stay away?" he asked.

"Until 10 tonight? Dinner is over at 7. I'll see if Mal can talk for a few minutes after and then invite Jamie over."

Jay smirked. "Have fun little man."

Audrey heard the two of them walk away and smiled. She finally had an idea on what to do with that bra of Mal's that she'd found when she broke into Ben's room.

Later that evening, Mal was rushing to get to Carlos's room in time. He'd asked her for some advice on Jamie before the two of them got together at 8 tonight. Mal had agreed happily to assist her friend but for some strange reason, the servants had brought dinner for her and Ben really late tonight. It was as if someone had told them to stay away until 7:30. They'd finally arrived and Mal had just grabbed a couple rolls and told Ben she'd eat more dinner when she got back. She got to Carlos's room about 7:45 and knocked quickly on the door. Carlos opened it, looked back and forth down the hallway, and let her in. He didn't notice Audrey hidden in the shadows with her camera.

"So what's up, sorta mini brother?" she asked

"Jamie is coming over tonight. And she said that she wanted us to be alone." Carlos said nervously.

Mal smirked. "You dog…. Wait a minute. If she wants to be alone with you, why did you invite me? 'cause I'm not into anything kinky…."

Carlos's face went pink. "Because, I, umm… I don't exactly know what to do…. Or how to make her happy or…"

"And you thought I was the best person to answer those questions?" said Mal, sounding surprised.

"Well, you and Ben do seem to be pretty happy. And, well, I want that kind of relationship with Jamie."

Mal whistled a little and then rolled your eyes. "Well, at least your intentions are good." She looked at her watch. "So, you want me to explain all that stuff in the next, what? Ten minutes or so?"

Carlos nodded. "Please?" he asked desperately.

"Fine. Look, I'm not going to tell you exactly what to do. That would be gross and I think you can figure it out on your own."

"But, Mal, I really need help."

"I wasn't finished yet. What I will do is tell you this. You want Jamie to be happy tonight? Be kind. Be gentle. Pay more attention to how she's feeling than how you're feeling. And be honest." Mal rolled her eyes toward the part of the building that held Ben's rooms. "You'd be surprised at how far honesty can get you…."

"That's it?" asked Carlos dubiously.

"That's it." Said Mal.

Out in the hallway, Audrey checked her watch. It was 7:58. So far her plan was working perfectly. She'd arranged for the servants to deliver Ben and Mal's dinner as late as possible. That meant Mal would barely make it to Carlos's in time and hopefully Jamie would find Mal with Carlos when she arrived. However, Jamie just finding them together wasn't going to be enough. There needed to be some sort of doubt added to the equation. She glanced down the hallway and saw Jamie walking this way, her face looking all dreamy. The timing was perfect. Audrey waited until Jamie got close to the door before she snuck her arm out and pulled the fire alarm. Then she aimed her camera at the door.

As the ringing sound filled the corridor, Carlos's door slammed open. Mal and Carlos came out at a dead run while Audrey clicked picture after picture. Mal immediately split off toward Ben's rooms after a little wave in Jamie's direction. Jamie looked confused as to why Mal had been there but when Carlos just grabbed her hand started leading her out of the building, she didn't fight him. Once they were clear, Audrey put down her camera darted into Carlos's still open door. She yanked down the covers on Carlos's bed, messed up the pillows to make it look like somebody had been on them, and then artfully tucked Mal's bra under one of the pillows. Just as she was finishing staging her scene, the alarm cut off. Someone must have figured out it was a false alarm and everyone would be returning any time now. She quickly ran back out of the door and had just reached her hiding place when Carlos and Jamie returned.

Carlos had spent the entire walk out of the building and back explaining to an already suspicious Jamie that Mal had only been visiting him as a friend. It had been tough to convince her because Jamie was so used to disappointments in her life. She automatically assumed the worst whenever something happened. He'd finally gotten her calmed down and hoped that they could still have a nice evening when they got back to their room after that strange fake fire alarm. Wrapping his arm around her, he led her into the room. He almost lost his balance when Jamie suddenly froze in place and he tried to keep walking.

"Which bed is yours?" she asked cautiously.

Carlos was a little surprised at her asking about something like that before they'd even started kissing so he sounded pretty nervous when he replied. "That one." He pointed over to his bed. A bed which he now noticed was no longer neatly made.

"That's what I thought." Said Jamie clearly. She wrenched out of his grasp and walked over to the bed. Once she got there, she snatched up something sticking out from under a pillow and looked back at Carlos.

"So, Mal was just over as a friend, huh?" she asked with a bit of steel in her voice. Carlos nodded, not sure where this was going. Jamie continued. "I'm guessing that in the craziness of the fire alarm she just happened to mess up your bed and toss her bra on it?" she asked revealing that Mal's bra was the item she'd pulled off of the bed.

Carlos's face went white. "I don't… I mean…." He didn't know how to explain to her that the bed had been properly made and the bra hadn't been there when he'd left."

"Maybe it's not hers…" he tried to say but instantly knew that was the wrong way to counter the accusation.

"So it could belong to some other girl you've had in here?"

Carlos groaned. Everything seemed to be falling apart. "No! It wasn't here when I left! Someone must have planted it."

Jamie laughed derisively. "Right. Because there's some sort of conspiracy to mess with your love life. Not that you're going to have one once I'm done telling the school what a bastard you are."

"But I didn't…" Carlos tried to say but failed.

"I can't believe I actually trusted you. Goodbye, Carlos. Don't ever talk to me again." With that final pronouncement, Jamie swept down the hallway and away.

Audrey was almost ready to dance in happiness. She'd been hoping for some sort of fight out of this. She'd never dreamed it would turn out this well. As soon as Jamie spread this story all over the school, she'd get her family to start pressuring Ben that, if he wanted to remain King, he'd have to dump his perfect little purple haired bitch. If he did, well, that would break his heart and her revenge would be complete. If not, then he'd have to watch as first her father took over as King and then she took over as Queen once she turned 18. Either way, Ben and Mal's world would be destroyed.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summary: Mal and Evie had a fight after Evie's first date. Both said things they regret but somehow they managed to just move on without actually apologizing. Jamie found one of Mal's bras in Carlos's bed and is quite upset. A bra which Audrey planted to cause trouble for all. Jack has been spending a lot of time with Jay with the two of them generally concentrating on finding a good party or some girls to spend time with

Jack and Jay had been having a lot of fun lately. They'd been tormenting Chad whenever they could find him and enjoying a lot of late night pizzas with a lot of very friendly girls. Very, very friendly… The experience had almost been intoxicating. They hadn't had any plans tonight but Carlos had wanted the dorm room to himself tonight so Jay had left to find Jack and see if he wanted to get up to a little bit of mischief. He went to knock on Jack's door but the first time that he hit it, it just swung open. Apparently it hadn't latched properly when Jack had shut it.

Inside, Jay saw Jane sitting on the end of the bed, looking like she was kind of nervous to be in a boy's room. When she saw Jay in the now open doorway, she froze. Jack came over from the other side of the room where he'd apparently been mixing Jane and himself some hot chocolate. Jack had really taken to chocolate when he'd arrived, just as the rest of the kids from the Isle had. But Jack seemed to like hot chocolate the best and always insisted that any girls with him also have some.

When Jane saw both of them, she squeaked and bolted out of the room, pushing past Jay in her haste. Jack's eyes followed her out of the room until they landed on Jay.

"Why didn't you knock?" he asked irritably. "It had taken me weeks to convince her to visit me."

Jay almost just apologized and left but something felt off in the way Jack had reacted. So he walked on in. "Sorry, you hadn't closed the door properly."

"I guess I should have checked it. Ah well." Said Jack. He turned toward the window with the drinks he was carrying. "I'll just get rid of these."

Waste from someone who'd grown up on an island living on scraps was extremely out of character. Waste of chocolate was unthinkable. That changed Jay's attitude from minor concern to major suspicion. Jack was up to something and he was going to figure out what it was. "Why waste it? Give me one of them."

Jack glanced down at the two mugs of hot chocolate that he was holding as if he wasn't sure what to do. Jay could almost see the wheels turning in his head. Then Jack held out one of the mugs to Jay. But it wasn't he one in his right hand that he offered like Jay had expected. It was the one in his left. Jay took it from him and swirled the cup around in his hand. Nothing looked suspicious with it. Cautiously, he even took a sip. He'd halfway expected that it would be spiked with schnapps or something like that but it wasn't. It was just hot chocolate. In fact, it was so ordinary that he was about to write off his vague feelings as paranoia when he noticed that Jack hadn't taken a drink of his.

"Something wrong with your hot chocolate?" Jay asked.

"I'm just not in the mood for it. That's all. I'll throw it out." said Jack. He tried to move toward the windows but Jay moved into his way.

"Then why did you make it?" he asked.

"To drink with Jane. But since the evening is ruined, I'm not in the mood anymore." Jack temporized. He tried to move toward the window again but Jay continued to block him.

"Drink it." Jay said evenly.

Jack stared at him for a moment. Then he raised the cup wildly so that it hit the wall before he could get it to his lips. The mug shattered and chocolate flew everywhere. "Ooops" Jack said. "Sometimes I'm so clumsy."

Jay wasn't listening to him at this point though. He was staring at one of the shards of the mug sitting on the ground. There was a strange residue on it that didn't look like cocoa mix. It was too rough. He picked it up and ran his thumb over the dregs. It felt gritty. Wrong. And then suddenly he knew what had been in that cup. He also knew why the girls got friendlier every time Jack had insisted on another round of drinks. Friendlier in fact than any self-respecting girl really should ever get with a boy they weren't dating.

When Mal had made the magical chocolate chip cookies of love for Ben, Jay had ended up with a couple of the extras that Ben hadn't eaten. Jay had originally kept them as insurance in case they needed to re-dose Ben but once the coronation was over, he'd forgotten about them. Well, he had until Jack had found the bag of them wedged behind a cushion in his room one night and tried to eat one. Jay had needed to tackle him to prevent that. After that, he'd told Jack the story of what they were and what they did. The cookies had been pulverized by the tackle and so Jay had just tossed the bag in the trash. It looked like Jack has rescued them before he left that night.

Jay dropped the piece of ceramic stained with hot chocolate residue and cookie crumbs and before he knew what had happened, he'd picked up Jack and pinned him to the wall. "Where's the rest of it?" he said menacingly. Jack frantically pulled a plastic bag of crumbs out of his pocket and shoved it toward Jay. Jay dropped his former friend and stared at him in disgust. There were no words for what Jack had done not only to those girls whom he'd robbed of free will but what he'd done by involving Jay in this mess. He was sickened at the idea that those girls had been kissing him because of magic instead of because they wanted to. He felt dirty even though he hadn't known what was happening. And even worse, if people found out, well, then not only would he be blamed for something that wasn't his fault, but people might put two and two together and realize that Ben's falling in love with Mal had something to do with magic. This was a disaster on more levels than Jay could even imagine. He considered pounding Jack into the carpet but he really didn't have time. He had to find Mal.

In another part of the school....

Evie was surprised that evening when she heard a knocking on her door. She opened it to find Carlos looking sadder than she'd ever seen him. "Can we talk? I mean, all of us?" he asked. Evie agreed and sent messages to Mal and Jay asking for them to join them. At Carlos's insistence, they had headed up to one of the unused classrooms to talk. 'Nowhere that there is a bed!' he'd almost shouted when Evie tried suggesting that they just talk in her room instead. So she'd grabbed a few handkerchiefs and followed him to one of the classrooms on the third floor. Mal managed to join them on the way up to the room although Carlos was unable to make eye contact with her. Jay was nowhere to be seen. Eventually they gave up waiting for him and Carlos started to explain.

"Jamie and I had a fight. Well, kind of a fight. I didn't do a lot of talking. But she thinks that you and I are together and she really flipped out about it." Carlos said to Mal.

"What? Is she a total idiot or something?" asked Mal incredulously. "I mean, seriously, you and me? I'm with Ben, stupid! You know that, she knows that, everyone knows that! And I'm not quite sure how to say this nicely, but even if I wasn't with Ben, you and I would like never ever happen not once in this universe ever! So shut up." she exclaimed.

Strangely, Carlos felt a need to defend this slight on his manhood. "It could so happen!"

Mal just stared at him. "You're crazier than your girlfriend. It could only happen in some alternate universe where short scrubby boys like you were hot! Which we are NOT IN!" she half shouted.

"Mal!" Evie said, trying to break up the impending fight. "You're not helping!" Evie decided to try to play peacemaker. She knew that Mal didn't like anything that attacked her relationship with Ben but boys and their egos could be so fragile. And right now Carlos looked pretty shattered and she hurt for him. She looked back at Carlos. "Fine, it could happen. Theoretically anyway. But it hasn't, right?"

Carlos shook his head no. "No."

"So what did happen?" asked Evie. "What made Jamie think you were with Mal?"

"Well, Jamie said she wanted us to be alone tonight. I thought that maybe it meant that she was ready for something new in our relationship. So, I asked Mal for some advice. 'cause I've never really been alone with a girl before. Anyway, Mal came and talked to me and then Jamie showed up and… " He couldn't go on.

"So she thought we were together just because you were talking to me? Like I said, the girl is mental. You're better off without her." interjected Mal.

"She's not mental! She's just had things happen in her life that makes it hard for her to trust."

"And that makes her different from the rest of us, how?" asked Mal.

"Just trust me! It's worse!" shouted Carlos.

Evie was starting to get upset at Mal. Just like the fight she'd had with her a little while ago, this discussion wasn't about her. "Look, never mind that." She said to Mal, then turned to Carlos. "What exactly made Jamie think you were involved with Mal?"

Carlos pulled Mal's bra out of his pocket. "She found this under my pillow." He said, handing the bra to Mal

Mal looked carefully at the bra. At first she was confused and then she finally recognized it. "Oh my goblins! This is the bra I lost in Ben's room!" Carlos looked at her in shock and suddenly Mal was embarrassed. "I'd umm, just picked up my laundry and dropped by Ben's room on the way to mine and…" She trailed off, completely aware that Carlos wasn't buying it. "Look, it doesn't matter how it got to Ben's room. This issue is how it ended up in your room. Did you steal it from Ben's or something, you little pervert?"

Evie had finally had enough. "One of your best friends is heartbroken and all you keep doing is insulting him?"

Still ashamed that Carlos had found out what she'd been doing with Ben, Mal lost her temper. "I'm doing that because he's a little freak with a bunch of stupid problems!"

"Maybe people wouldn't have all these problems if you'd keep your clothes on!" shouted Evie.

"And maybe you'd cheer up a little if you took yours off!" shouted back Mal at her friend.

"And maybe both of you could remember that we're up here to talk about my problem, not your problems!" screamed Carlos.

Everything in the room stopped like someone had just lit a fuse. All three friends were right on the edge of saying something that they would never come back from.

Finally Evie broke the tension. "That's what you really think. Isn't it, Mal? That there's something wrong with me for not going faster with Doug?"

"No, I'm…" Mal couldn't make herself say the word 'sorry'. That word had never really been a part of her vocabulary before. When she didn't answer, Evie just walked out of the room without so much as a glance back. To cover the lapse, Mal turned to Carlos. "Look, it isn't my fault that Jamie thought you and I were together. I'll talk to her and explain there's nothing going on between us."

Carlos sneered. "Don't. You'll just make the conversation all about you and everything will just get worse. I'll figure it out all by myself." Carlos turned to leave.

In the doorway was Jay. He looked harried. Panicked even. "Hey, Mal… It's kind of an emergency. I need your help. It's about a girl…. Actually, it's about a lot of girls…."

Carlos laughed. "Good luck with that. Mal's really good at helping out on girl stuff, aren't you, Mal?" he said bitterly as he pushed past Jay into the hallway. "Nice of you to finally show up, by the way." He said angrily and headed out the door.

Jay looked after him confusedly. "What? You asked me to stay away, remember?" Carlos continued walking, ignoring Jay's words. Jay sighed and then he turned to Mal, the only person who was left. "What's going on here?" asked Jay. "I thought Carlos was supposed to be having some alone time with Jamie right now."

"Jamie found this in Carlos's bed." Mal said, showing Jay the bra. "Needless to say, she freaked."

"Hey, my little buddy likes to wear lingerie. Big deal."

"It's mine, you idiot." Replied Mal sharply.

"Why was…" asked Jay but that was as far as he got before Mal cut him off.

"I don't know." Said Mal. "I lost it up in Ben's room…" At Jay's questioning look, her eyes hardened. "Nevermind how… Anyway, somehow it made its way from his room to yours." Mal was pacing the room now. "Hey, Jack used to be famous for these kinds of tricks on the Isle. He loved to see someone other than himself in trouble. Probably because he was in trouble with his mom constantly. Maybe he did it for a laugh."

"I don't think he had anything to do with planting that bra." said Jay shortly. He suddenly looked defensive.

"How do you know?" asked Mal.

"Because he's been doing something else that's far worse. And he's got me caught up in the middle of it. I know what Jack has actually has been doing." Jay said, pulling out the bag of crumbs. "And I need your help to fix it."


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Summary of what happened before: Jamie broke up with Carlos when she found Mal's bra in Carlos's bed. It had been planted there by Audrey in an attempt to fracture friendships and call into question Mal's virtue. Mal and Evie have continued to fight and were unable to help Carlos with his problems. Jack, as it turns out, had been spiking the cocoa of the girls he and Jay has been partying with. He used crumbs from a few remaining chocolate chip love cookies that Jay had never discarded. Jay hadn't known and was infuriated when he found out. He has gone to Mal for assistance.

It hadn't take Jamie long to apprise the entire school of how Carlos had hurt her. It hadn't quite turned out the way she'd expected though. Some people did indeed believe her and were whispering that Mal must be some sort of slut and that Ben should dump her if he wanted to stay King. That's what she'd expected and it is what she got from the royal families, old guard, etc. Basically, the really conservative folks out there believed the way she had. The rest… the rest hadn't even considered her explanation. What she heard from people in Auradon who knew Mal and the others well was that the idea that Mal and Carlos could be involved was absurd. Jay they might have believed, but not Carlos. This made Jamie strangely angry. "Why don't they think my wonderful Carlos is good enough to be with Mal?" she'd ask herself. Then she'd remember that she was angry at him and scold herself for defending him.

Jamie moped around the school and managed to avoid her roommate for a few days. Not easy to do but Amelia seemed to understand that seeing the face of the girl whom her boyfriend had cheated with wasn't easy, even if it was on another person. Cheated with… That's where it all seemed to fall apart in her mind because what had happened didn't make any sense. Why would Carlos have done it? She'd already as much as told him that she wanted to fool around with him that night. So if he'd been desperate to touch a girl or something, well, all he needed to have done was wait another hour and he'd have gotten to put his hands all over her. And… who knows what else. She hadn't quite decided how far she'd wanted to go with him. Did Mal seduce him or something? That didn't work either. Mal clearly loved Ben and he loved her. No one doubted that at all so other than the folks that assumed that anyone from the Isle was just depraved, no one believed it was even possible. And if Carlos had tried something on Mal and she hadn't wanted to be part of it, she'd have zapped him into next year. Jamie was feeling more confused now than she had that night.

Carlos had tried to talk to her several times and while she hadn't given him much of a chance to talk, he certainly seemed upset over losing her. He tried to explain how he'd just asked Mal for some advice and didn't have any idea how her bra had ended up here. He wasn't acting like some guilty boy who had gotten caught with his hand in Mal's cookie jar. He seemed… heartbroken. Lost. Alone. Which was exactly the way that she felt too. She missed her little man. And she was starting to think that she might have made a mistake in accusing him so quickly. Finally feeling like she was ready to talk, she headed back to her room and her waiting roommate. Amelia knew her sister well and she was a good listener. She'd help Jamie figure this out.

"You know it's a misunderstanding, don't you?" asked Amelia as soon as Jamie had shut the door.

Jamie was a little surprised at her roommates tone. She'd figured that they'd work up to this conversation. "I… I don't know that. Not for sure. But I don't know what I know anymore….." Said Jamie, crawling into the window seat and staring out into the blue sky.

"Well, are you willing to listen to what I know now?" asked Amelia. "You weren't ready before and so I left you alone. I gave you the space you needed. But bigger things than you love life are having problems right now."

"What?" asked Jamie. The statement pulled her out of her reverie. "What is going on?"

"If you stop acting like a child and listen to me, I'll explain." Said Amelia. "

"Fine." said Jamie morosely. "It can't make me feel any worse than I already do."

"The bra that you found was Mal's. That was true. But she didn't put it there. She had lost it, well, someplace else a while ago."

"Someplace else?"

"Fine. She didn't want me to tell you this part if I didn't have to, but I told her you'd need the whole story. She lost it in Ben's room. The night of the coronation they got a little, umm frisky. When she went to leave, they couldn't find it. You wouldn't think it would be that hard to find a purple bra but it was. But nobody has a clue how it could have gotten into Carlos's room. I can guarantee you though that Mal didn't leave it there."

"How do you know?" asked Jamie. "I mean, how can you be sure? I know you trust your sister, but how do you actually know?"

"Because I saw her before she could have gone back to her room and she was wearing a bra. Her shirt was one of those mesh things she's so fond of and I could see it through the fabric. And I don't know about you, but I don't take extra bras to make out sessions just in case I misplace one. Do you?"

Jamie shook her head 'no'. "But if she didn't put it there, who did?"

Amelia grimaced. "We don't know. None of us do. But it wasn't your sweet Carlos, okay? So I need you to get your butt out there and forgive him. Publicly. Everyone needs to know that it was a misunderstanding and that Mal didn't fool around with him."

"Why?" demanded Jamie. "Why is it everyone's business?"

"Because your little freak out made it everyone's business and caused a colossal mess. All of us from the Isle are painted with the same brush here. You don't know how much damage you've caused. Everyone who thinks that a villain kid can't turn out good is pointing to this as proof that we're all still evil. And they're saying that Mal was just shamming all this time and pretending to be in love with Ben. Or that even if she does love him, that she isn't worthy of becoming his queen someday. He is starting to get pressure from some of the older royal families to put Mal aside if he wants to stay King. Look, I know it's tough for you to trust. You had bad things going on in your life before you even got here. I know you're still not ready to tell me why your back was so sore the night we arrived. And I know that whatever the reason is, it's very, very important. But to put it in pirate terms for you, I need you to tell your insecurities and ego to take a long walk off of a short plank. I want you to leave this room, find Carlos, shout to the world that you were an idiot, and then start kissing him. With tongue if you can manage it. I don't want there any doubts that you forgive him."

"Did Ben put you up to this? Or Mal, maybe?" asked Jamie suspiciously.

"No. He should have, but he didn't. He's too good of a man to push something like this. He's more inclined to try to take the high road and ignore all of these doubts until they go away. But you and I both grew up on the Isle and we know that if you don't root out an infection like this, it just spreads. I'll admit that Mal wanted me to push you but she didn't ask. She loves Ben and anything that threatens her relationship with him frightens her terribly. And she'd scared right now. Both about this and about something else that she won't tell me about. I'm hoping if we can get this problem off of her plate, then whatever the other problem is will be easier for her to face."

Jamie looked at Amelia, her face stricken. "But how do you know that Carlos will forgive me?"

Amelia gently smiled. "Because he loves you. I can see it in his heart. And in how he looks at you. Go find him."

Jamie pulled her boots back on and headed out the door. There was a lightness in her step that Amelia hadn't seen since the fight and she was glad it was back. Whatever demon haunted Jamie's life on the Isle would have to wait but at least Jamie and Carlos could enjoy young love again. They could show everyone that the children of villains might make mistakes but they could fix them. And they could forgive. That was something that villains never, ever did. Forgive.

Mal slipped into the dark kitchen and almost screamed when she saw Jay already waiting for her. "Don't do that!" she hissed at him.

"Not my fault you weren't paying attention to something right in plain sight." taunted Jay.

"And it isn't my problem that you weren't paying attention to Jack slipping a mickey to every single girl you guys were entertaining! Or wait… It is my problem! Because if anyone ever finds out about it, then my relationship with Ben will be toast! Do you have everything we need?"

Jay nodded. "Everything on your list. Are you sure you want to produce six dozen love spell breaking cupcakes and then convince all the girls to eat one?"

Mal gave him a sharp look. "It's better than your stupid 'Why don't we convince all the girls to participate in a wet t-shirt contest down at the magic canceling lake' plan."

"It would have been more fun…" replied Jay.

"Fun? Fun is what got you into this problem in the first place!" Mal took a deep breath. "Alright, let's get started. We'll whip these up and then you're going to personally make sure each and every girl that your or Jack so much as glanced at eats one. Got it?"

Jay sobered at that. "I do. Look Mal, all kidding aside, I feel just as violated as those girls. I can't believe that I was kissing someone who wasn't willing. It's wrong. And really sick. Someday, I want what you and Ben have. And I won't find that if every girl out there thinks I'm the sort of guy who would violate them like that."

"I'm glad you've figured that out." She began to lay out all the ingredients and then stopped. "Oh no. I forgot something." Mal's face fell as she realized their plan would fail.

"What?" said Jay. "You've flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar… all of it."

"We need a tear of human suffering, remember? Actually, we need a whole bunch of them for a batch this big. I'm just making the whole school dessert if we don't add that to the mix."

Jay grinned. "I thought of that." He reached under table and pulled out a tied up Jack. "I know we can't punish him openly for what he's done but I figured he could at least be useful."

"How?" asked Mal.

"I guarantee that if I hit his head against the table enough times, he'll start crying some tears of suffering. And if he doesn't, then, well, I'll have to get more creative." He looked down Jack's eyes, which were now wide open in fear. "That's right, old boy. You're about to have a very, very bad night. Which might not be very nice of me. But what you did to those girls? And making me be a part of it? Well, it's no more than you deserve."


	29. Chapter 29

Things weren't going so well for Ben. Well, things were fine for Ben, the man. Not so much for Ben the King. He'd learned pretty quickly that it was necessary to separate those parts of his life. The entire school was still obsessed with rumors that Mal had cheated on him. Very few people believed them, and he was very thankful for that. Especially now that Jamie had admitted in public that she'd been a total idiot to distrust Carlos and that it had all been a big misunderstanding. She'd emphasized her point by nearly jumping Carlos right there in the courtyard. The stunned look on Carlos's face had been priceless though. He'd looked like he was still somewhat confused, a little bit annoyed, but obviously had no intentions of stopping his pirate wench from having her wicked way with him. Ben had found watching them kiss and make up extremely amusing right up until he had realized that Jamie appeared to have no plans to stop kissing… or making up… or whatever else she could think of to do. Ben had finally needed to intervene and suggest that they might want to find a little more decorum and a lot more privacy before they continued their discussion. If he had just been 'Ben, the man', then that would have been the end of things. He could have just ignored the rumors, knowing that they would eventually fade away.

Unfortunately, ignoring a problem didn't work for 'Ben the King'. Despite Jamie's sincere attempt to salvage the situation, the damage was already done. He had already heard from a lot of the other nobility in the kingdoms that they believed Mal was unfit to be queen. It wasn't even the affair rumor that was the real issue. It was that it permitted so many of them to pull out their prejudices and state that once you were a villain, you were always a villain. It didn't even seem to matter to them at all that Mal had never actually done anything wrong. They just tarred her with the same brush that they used for everyone else. Even if she wasn't guilty this time, went their logic, it was just a matter of time until she was. How exactly did he answer that accusation? There wasn't any way to 'prove' that Mal would stay good. He knew in his heart that she would, but other Kings, Princes, and other royalty weren't going to take his word for it. They wanted him to publicly separate from Mal. 'Just until things calm down.' Said the nice ones. 'Find a new girlfriend' is what the others said. His father was philosophical about the problem. "Just give them time." He had said, barely taking his attention off of the tiny model railroad that he had started building in his retirement. "Eventually the next scandal will make them forget about this one. And there's always another scandal." Ben didn't want to tell his father but that 'next scandal' worried him even more. Because his beautiful and charming girlfriend had just done the strangest thing without even telling him about it.

She'd made dessert for the entire school. Dessert for a meal that she conveniently didn't show up to.

He loved Mal and knew that she had a wonderful heart under her tough exterior but her doing that much work for the entire school without another motive was, well, unlikely. Especially when you considered her other experiments in cooking. If she'd made scones or pies or apple turnovers then he would have just made sure that he got a piece and later complimented Mal on her work. But she hadn't made any of those things. She'd made cupcakes. Or, as was far more likely, magic cupcakes.

Oddly, the fact that is was cupcakes was the only reason he wasn't panicking right now. If she'd baked cookies for the entire school, then he wasn't quite sure how he would have handled it. Over a hundred teenagers randomly falling in love with the first person they saw… That would have been a monumental disaster. But cookies were for love spells and cupcakes were for breaking them so he wasn't sure what to think about it all. "Where was the harm in it?" part of him thought. "It's no different than everyone going swimming at the lake and that happens every summer." But the rest of him knew that there was something going on. There was some sort of reason that Mal was making sure that no one in the school was influenced by a love spell.

He'd considered going to find her when the helpers had started passing out the purple frosted cupcakes. But Ben rushing out of the dining hall to find her would have made a strange occasion even stranger. It didn't help that Jay was very much in attendance and seemed to be paying a lot of attention to who ate one. In fact, he'd even convinced a couple of girls who seemed more interested in watching their figure than eating a chocolate cupcake that it was time to 'live a little' and enjoy one. The girls had been excited to do it for him and then, somehow, sad once they'd eaten it.

Ben groaned. With everything going on in the rumor mill, it was imperative that no one find out that he'd been enchanted when he asked Mal out. If powerful people in the court found that out, then they'd have the perfect reason to force him to step down. His musing was interrupted by a quiet voice from the door.

"Hi." Said Mal, easing herself inside. She wasn't her usual feisty self and that, more than anything else, convinced Ben that she was indeed up to something. He turned and held out his arms to her. Mal walked across the room with every step feeling like a death sentence. She walked into his arms and just let him hug her; she didn't try to put her arms around him or anything. Ben breathed into her hair and Mal took a moment to just let go of all of their problems and be with him. They stood their together for a long moment before she spoke again. "Did you get a cupcake?" she asked.

"No." replied Ben. "Did I need one?"

"Probably not." Said Mal. "Not unless Jack has been plying you with hot chocolate in the wee hours of the morning."

"What?" replied Ben, startled.

"Jack managed to get his hands on a few of the left over cookies that I made. They were dried up and crumbly which meant that the magic was weaker but it was still there. He's been slipping crumbs in the drinks of pretty girls so that they would kiss him."

"What?!" replied Ben again but this time he sounded angry. "And Jay? Jay's been with Jack a lot lately and I know I've seen them with a lot of girls…."

"Jay didn't know… In fact, Jay was the one that caught him at it… The crumbs and cookies are gone. Destroyed. And I'll never make any more again. After he found out, Jay came to me and we came up with the plan to make sure no one was still under his power. Jay watched to make sure that every girl he'd ever seen Jack with had eaten a cupcake and I went down to the village and passed out some more. It's done with."

Ben's fury was still up. "What about Jack?"

"He's been dealt with." Said Mal delicately.

"But he should be arrested. Brought up on charges! Brought in front of me for judgment…" Ben finished darkly.

"I agree but you know that wasn't an option. If he went before you, then he'd have smeared your name and how you were enchanted all over the kingdom. He'd have told everyone where the cookies came from and why I originally made them. Your authority as King would have been destroyed. I couldn't let that happen."

"I don't care about my name or reputation. What I care about is those girls…" interjected Ben.

"So do I. Luckily, it wasn't any more than kisses although Jay thinks that was only because Jack hadn't worked up the nerve for more yet. When I found out, I truth spelled Jack to make sure that was all that had happened. And even then, Jay and I watched the eyes of everyone who ate one of those cupcakes. If Jack had done anything worse to them, we'd have seen it in their eyes when the spell broke."

"And if he had?" asked Ben, trying to hold his temper.

"Then I'd be with him right now making sure he regretted every terrible thing that he's even considered doing in his life."

"Doesn't he already regret them?" asked Ben, knowing that his Mal wouldn't have been gentle with Jack for even such a little thing as enchanting a girl to kiss her.

"He'd regret them more. A lot more."

"But still.." Ben tried to say.

"It's over. I've dealt with it. If anyone ever finds out, I'll confess to the whole thing. Your rule will be safe."

"I don't care about that." Protested Ben.

"I know you don't. And that's why you're going to be a great King. Look, I'm sorry." Mal said quietly.

"For what?" asked Ben.

Mal was a little sad that Ben's tone didn't sound so much surprised as resigned. "For love spelling you in the first place. For losing that stupid bra. For being such a bad friend to Evie and to Carlos. And for screwing up your life and your being King."

"It's not that bad…" Ben tried to say.

Mal interrupted. "They want you to dump me, right? The court… the other kingdoms, your parents…"

"Not my parents." Said Ben quickly and then realized that by answering that way, he'd admitted that the rest of hit had been true. "Look, they'll all get over it. Eventually, when the next scandal consumes their attention. That's what my dad says."

"Eventually…" said Mal but her voice betrayed her by cracking. "Look, I should go. And I mean like, really go. Not back to the Isle but maybe find somewhere else to live. Somewhere that I won't hurt all the people that I love." She pushed away from him. "I love you. Goodbye." She said and turned to leave.

"You're not leaving Mal." Said Ben smoothly.

A bit of her fire came back as she whirled to face him. "Do you think you can stop me?"

They looked at each other for a long minute. "Yes." He finally answered.

"What are you going to do? Force me to stay? Call your guards?"

"Nope."

"Then how?" asked Mal exasperated.

"By asking nicely." Replied Ben.

They looked at each other for another long minute and then Mal started to giggle. "That's it? You're just going to ask me? What if I say no?"

"Then I'll ask again. Even nicer."

She giggled again. "That's your plan? Just get nicer and nicer and nicer?"

Ben nodded. "Is it working?"

Mal mock stomped across the floor and shoved her head into Ben's chest. Then she reached and pulled his arms around her snugly. "Yes. You're crazy. You know that, right?"

"I'm not crazy. I'm dating you which is almost but not quite the same as being crazy."

Mal's arm unwrapped from Ben long enough to punch him in the arm, then went back around him. "So what do we do now?"

"We start facing our problems. I'm going to start standing up to all those people who think they can decide who I love. That isn't their decision to make. If they decide they don't want me to be King, then that's fine. But I'm not giving you up for anything." Ben smiled to himself, realized that for once, Man and King were united. It was time to stop being the punching bag for the entire kingdom. He needed to convince everyone in the kingdom how wonderful Mal was and that she was always going to do the best thing for the kingdom. Even if it wasn't what he'd have chosen. If he didn't convince them, then he and Mal would be plagued by doubts for the rest of their lives. Better to take a chance now and settle thing than to live under the axe forever. It's not going to be easy to face all of that doubt but I'm going to do it. But you, Mal, have something even harder to do."

"What?" she asked.

"You need to apologize to Evie and Doug. And Carlos, for that matter."

"What if they don't forgive me?" asked Mal. "I don't have a lot of experience with apologies."

"You apologized to me." Said Ben. "And that went okay."

"True…" admitted Mal.

"Did you meant to hurt them" asked Ben.

"Of course not!" replied Mal.

"Then they'll forgive you. Call it Advanced Goodness 201. When someone sincerely apologizes, you just know. And that helps you to forgive them."

"But what if they hate me now? What if they flunk your so called Advanced Goodness class?"

"Are you kidding?" replied Ben. "Doug or Evie? Flunk a class, even a made up one? Never. And Carlos? He got his Jaime back. I guarantee all is right with his world."


	30. Chapter 30

Mal was feeling nervous. Like seriously nervous. She needed to apologize to her best friend Evie. She didn't know exactly how she was going to do it but she knew it was time to woman up and do it. And thanks to Ben's prompting, she'd even found the courage to do it. So, you'd expect her to be tracking Evie down, right?

Wrong. Mal had been summoned to see the Beast. Not her Beast. The Beast. The Big Beast. Beast Senior. Adam. The Boss. She ran out of fancy names to call him just about the same time that she reached the door to his office and almost ran for the hills when she realized that it was time to go in and see him. Adam… he had insisted that she call him Adam the last time she spoke with him and even though it was extremely weird to think of that imposing presence as 'Adam', it was all she had to work with. Still, facing this was another step in facing her larger problems so she screwed her courage to the sticking place (and once again tried to figure out what on earth that phrase was supposed to mean) and knocked on the door.

Adam opened the door almost immediately. Given that she could see that it was a big room and his desk was on the far side that meant that he'd been waiting for her to arrive. That was… scary. "Come in, Mal." He said smoothly. "Can I get you something? Something to eat? A little snack perhaps?"

She walked in and sat down in a large chair that almost swallowed her. "I'm fine, thank you though." She replied to him. She couldn't imagine eating or drinking in front of him. It would be way too awkward. "So, umm, what's up?" she tried, hoping that the lighthearted attempt at humor would get the meeting off on a good note.

"I don't know Mal. Why don't you tell me?" he asked, and she could tell from his expression that this meeting was about all of the rumors that were threatening Ben's kingship.

"Umm, fairies are up. So are dragons, but not at the moment….. Oh goblins… Everything is a colossal mess. Adam, sir? I'm sorry. Really sorry. It's all my fault…"

"How can it be your fault?" Adam asked. "That Jamie girl started all of these foolish rumors, didn't she? That's what Ben told me, anyway."

Mal froze. She'd forgotten for a moment that he didn't know about her losing her bra in his son's room and the actual cause of all of this. She decided to give him an edited version of what had happened. "Well, umm, there was a misunderstanding and it really upset her. I think Jamie still held some bad feelings from the Isle and, well, she's king of excitable."

"If what my guards tell me about her reconciliation with that Carlos boy is true, then 'excitable' doesn't even start to cover it." Adam chuckled and then went on. "So it sounds like what happened was that she thought the worst of you because of your past." Mal nodded and he continued. "And now the rest of the kingdom seems to be doing the same, especially all of those who have never made a mistake in their life?"

"Yeah, actually. It… You wouldn't understand…. Everyone always thinks I'm going to just be evil because of my past and it's never going to change." Mal just sighed. Everything was just falling apart and she was afraid that Adam was just going to make her life even more miserable. Then he said something she didn't expect.

"It gets better." Adam said, startling Mal. "I've been there, you know."

"You have?" asked Mal.

"After I married Belle, when I was first coming into power… Well, it didn't work out so well."

"You were King of all Auradon. And your wife is amazing. I think it turned about pretty darn well."

"I do have a great wife, don't I?" Adam chuckled. "Well, things may have turned out well in the end but they didn't start that way. As you might know, I have a bit of a reputation for having a temper…" Adam said cautiously.

"A bit?" laughed Mal.

"Just a little bit, yes. Because of that reputation, every time that I so much as growled or stomped my foot, the entire Kingdom assumed that I was going to rip the world apart. And if I accidentally gave into my temper for moment, then all of the rumors were even worse. People would whisper about how I was secretly still a beast inside and could never be a proper King. None of them thought that I could ever truly conquer the anger inside of me and they thought that I was still that bastard who refused to help a little old lady caught out in a storm."

"They thought all of that?" Mal asked, incredulous.

"Yes. In fact, I'm sure some of them still think that and I've been calm as can be for years. But every single time that I made a mistake, tongues started wagging. And they all thought it was going to be end of the world."

"So they never gave you the benefit of the doubt?"

"Not once. And Mal… I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but while you will eventually get used to it, for the rest of your life, there will always be someone out there will think the worst of you. They won't give you credit for having changed."

"So it's hopeless then." Said Mal, dejectedly.

"No, not at all. Mal, that's not what I was trying to say."

"So what were you telling me?"

"You're not alone. I've been through this before and I'll be there to help you when the world gets too rough. Ben has been there too, but I doubt it will ever be as bad as what you and I face. But when it happens, you have to rely on the people around you, on your friends, to keep yourself grounded. They can remind you that not EVERYONE thinks you're terrible. They can help you to recall when things weren't so rough and reassure you that they will get better again soon. The gossips will eventually get bored and find something else to talk to about."

"But what if they don't? What if whatever they believe is so terrible that they never get over it? What if they force Ben to give up the throne for staying with me?"

"Then that's what happens. It doesn't matter to me if my son is a king or a floor washer, as long as he'd happy. But when you're a king, your job is to take care of your people. And you are responsible for them, sure. But that doesn't mean that they get to control your life. And here's a little secret. If you're the kind of person who lets the people rule you, if you're never willing to make the tough decisions that better for everyone but might not be popular, then you're not the kind of person who should be a king."

"But what if.." Mal tried to say again.

Adam interrupted her. "No more buts. Part of being royal is standing up to problems and facing them head on. You're Ben's girlfriend so you you're almost family. In fact, I expect that you actually will be family before too much time goes by." Mal blushed at that statement and Adam grinned. "My son loves you. Truly loves you. That means that Belle and I love you too. Your problems are our problems. We will stand together as a family and nothing will be able to stand against us. But having your friends with you will make you even stronger. They helped you face your mother and that was scarier than every royal wagging tongue in this kingdom combined. So get your friends together and hold onto them tight. You might need them more than you know."

Amelia ended up having a strange day as well. She had wandered up to the library and run into Belle. It was a sight. Belle wasn't wearing a beautiful gown or a tiara. She was wearing a boring plain skirt and completely non frilly blouse. She didn't look queenly at all. Or queen mother… or whatever her term should be now. Bell was surrounded by boxes of books and seemed to be reorganizing the entire library. Without a word, Amelia just joined into the project, helping to rearrange the shelves and make the books easier to find. She joined the project so seamlessly that Belle didn't even realize she had help until about two hours later when she looked up after emptying the last box and noticed Amelia on top of a ladder arranging the last few books. Belle smiled quietly, and smiled even wider when Amelia looked back at her. It was as if they didn't need to speak. They'd found kindred spirits in each other, united by their love of books and quiet. Without even needing to talk about it, they left the library together to find a nice quiet cup of tea.


	31. Chapter 31

Mal was pacing her room waiting for Evie to return from studying with Doug. She didn't know how to begin talking to her best friend again but it was time to figure it out. This fight… this stupid misunderstanding… Well, it had gone on long enough. Ben was right. His dad, Adam, was right too. You took care of your friends. It was as simple as that. More than that though, Mal really missed sharing things with Evie. Sure she had her sister here now and it was nice to talk to her. But being separated for the last few years had left them disconnected more than she had ever expected. They were sisters but not exactly friends. Not yet anyway. It would just take time for them to find their groove. That was why Mal needed to make things right with Evie. Mal missed talking boys or fashion or even Chemistry with her. Granted, Mal usually didn't know what was going on when Evie started talking about Chemistry but she liked seeing Evie's passion and pride in what she knew.

Mal took another turn around the room and decided that it was time to let go of her pride. She was ready to grovel if necessary to get this resolved. But the more she walked, the more worried she got. "What if she won't forgive me?" Male wondered as she spun around the room again. Then, as the clocked ticked farther and farther, other thoughts began to invade her head. "She should be back by now. What if something happened to her?" If she got stopped by Chad or… Or even worse, Jack. Sure she and Jay had done their best to ensure Jack wouldn't even consider using magic on girls again, but you never knew for sure. And if he had a few more cookie crumbs hidden somewhere for a rainy day… None of what she was worrying about was even the slightest bit coherent anymore as more and more fanciful disasters consumed her mind. It had worked her into a serious tizzy when Evie finally came in the door.

At the sight of Mal pacing the room with some sort of intent in her eye, Evie almost turned around and ran for it. She wasn't up to a third fight. Or was it fourth? She'd lost track. All that she knew was that she wasn't willing to let Mal treat her like some trollop anymore. So she steeled herself and walked over to her desk and started putting away her books.

"Where have you been?!" asked Mal worriedly.

"You know very well where I've been. Studying with Doug." Evie groaned. "Just studying, if you must know. There was a lot to get done." Evie was actually a little disappointed in that since she and Doug had talked about maybe doing a little bit more serious kissing. But there had been too much work and, well, not enough time.

"E?" asked Mal tentatively. "Are you okay? I mean, it's so late and everything. I was worried about you."

Evie sighed. "You know that didn't need to worry. As we've discussed before, I'm that boring good girl who doesn't do those kinds of things." At the last moment, Evie resisted adding the words 'unlike you' to the end of that sentence. But if there was going to be another fight, she was proud of herself for starting off on the offensive.

Mal swallowed back an angry retort. It was quips like that which had gotten them into this mess and it was up to her to break the chain. She decided to be as neutral as possible. "I, umm, I wanted to talk about that."

Evie was shocked. "You wanted to talk about me not fooling around with Doug? Why? So you can just make me feel bad again for not just jumping him on the first date?" she asked, unable to believe her friend.

Mal really wanted to stomp her foot but resisted. She needed to stay calm and fixing this really meant swallowing her pride. "No. I didn't want to talk about what you do or don't do with Doug. Unless you want to talk about it and share. But not because I need to know. Because it's none of my business and you should just do whatever feels right. But Evie? Look we're friends and friends care about each other's lives." Mal knew she was babbling but Evie seemed to be listening so she wasn't going to stop. She looked and saw that Evie's eyes had softened a bit so she decided to take another chance. "And you're not boring. Not even a little bit. I don't think you could be boring if you tried. You're Evie and you should be proud of who you are. You had started to figure that out until I stuck my stupid nose in everything and made you feel bad about yourself again. Which I totally regret and am really wish I hadn't done to you. There's nothing wrong with you! Nothing at all. And I'm not judging you. At least, I'm not judging you anymore. I think you are a wonderful and smart young woman….." Mal stopped, almost unable to say the next words but knowing that nothing would heal unless she did. "And, hey, E? I'm sorry for everything that happened. Please forgive me and give me another chance."

Evie's mouth dropped open and something in the back of her mind decided she needed to re-evaluate the word 'shocked'. Because she was now 1000 times more surprised than she had been a minute ago. "You're sorry?" she managed.

Mal winced at having to say the words but they were long overdue. "Yes. I'm sorry. For absolutely everything. However I hurt you, I am sorry. Very sorry. More sorry than I've ever been about anything."

Evie went to sit down, missed the bed and plummeted onto the floor. She didn't even notice the pain starting in her butt as her friend rushed over and pulled her back to her feet. The impossible was happening. Mal, the daughter of Maleficent, a girl raised to NEVER admit she was wrong, was apologizing to her. On a whim, Evie glanced out the window to see if any winged pigs were flying past. They weren't. She looked back and Mal. "Could you say that again? I think I misunderstood you."

"Very funny." Mal hissed under her breath then got control of herself again. "Like I said, I'm sorry. I was too caught up in my own wicked world to appreciate yours."

"Wicked World… I like the sound of that…" Evie said quietly. She was still kind of distracted by the idea of Mal apologizing.

"Yeah, me too. Anyway, I promise to be a better friend from now on, okay? Does that work? Are we cool?"

Evie shook herself out of her daze and smiled. It was time to get a bit of her own back. In a fake confused voice, Evie replied. "I'm not exactly sure if we're cool. I mean, whatever on earth is that supposed to even mean? What is being cool? It's not like the temperature has actually changed or anything and the law of conservation of energy…" She giggled as Mal's eyes began to glaze over with the science talk. "Yes, Mal. We're cool. I accept your apology and I'm sorry too. Part of me knew you were only trying to tease me but somehow it just struck a nerve. You know what I mean?"

Mal nodded. "I do. I… I wanted to kind of share this all with you. Boys and dating and kissing… You always knew more about it than I did and, well, it felt a little strange to be doing more than you had. But E? I'm not, like, a slut or anything. I hope you don't think so. I just… I love him. When I'm with him now, it's like we've been together for our entire lives, even though it's actually only been a few weeks. It's hard to process and accept. And the King.. not Ben, I mean the old King… former King?"

"Adam?" suggested Evie, trying not to laugh at how befuddled this entire conversation had made her friend.

"Yeah. Adam. That dude. He told Ben that some of the old royal families were starting to talk about my reputation. They don't think I'm good enough to be Ben's wife… to be Queen or princess or whatever the heck that would make me. And I want to be with Ben…" Mal blushed as the reality of what she'd said struck her. "I mean, not, like, with him, with him. I'm not ready for that and we're not married yet but…" She trailed off, unable to speak for a moment, then found more words. "Adam, he said that I might be part of the family and that it even might be soon. Kings don't exactly date, they marry. It's the way it's done. And I really, really don't want to lose him." She stopped speaking and looked at Evie's bemused smile. "I'm babbling, aren't I?" she asked.

"Pretty much." Replied Evie. "And I don't think you're a slut. In fact, I don't think you even could be one. You've only been with Ben and you're just farther along in your relationship than I am with Doug. I'm happy for you, really."

"I'm happy for you too, Evie." Mal said, letting out a stressed breath. "That's what I was always trying to say but messing up."

"It's okay. I forgive you. Let's move on, okay?" Mal nodded and Evie continued. "So, you really think he might propose?"

"Maybe… If all this rumor garbage dies down he might. We've only been together for a little while but I'm pretty sure he's the one."

"Me too. And I grew up with my mother tormenting me with every single 'love at first sight' story she could think of. It doesn't happen often but when it does…. It can sweep you up in a tide of happiness. Enjoy it."

"I will." Mal relaxed a little more. "So, umm, if I can ask, how are things with you and Doug?" Mal almost choked realizing what she'd said and tried to backpedal. Things were finally fixed and she was afraid she'd just ruined them. "Not that they have to be anything specific but… Are you happy?"

Evie nodded. "Mostly. We've been so busy and tests are coming up. We haven't managed much more than those first few kisses. And I'm starting to want a little more."

"You don't have to do more just because I…" Mal began.

Evie rolled her eyes. Mal was still Mal after all. But it wasn't so bad anymore because she knew that deep down, Mal really cared about her. "Relax. I'll still do what I want when I want to. When I'm ready and when Doug is ready too. Don't worry about somehow influencing me. But while you aren't telling me what to do, you can still give me advice… Tell me… What does French kissing feel like?" Evie looked at Mal expectantly until she finally gave in and smiled. And then a rather naughty little conversation began that consumed most of the night and produced more giggles than Mal had ever uttered before in her life.


End file.
